Take Me to the Stars
by Ablissa
Summary: Her life was dull. Very dull. Heiress to the extensive Vitex fortune, Rose Tyler had no hope for a life of her own. Not until she met the Doctor, a mad man with some delightfully great hair, a man who waltzed straight into her life and made a right mess out of it, showing her that just one day is enough to change everything. / Ten/Rose multichapter AU
1. The Doctor

Blonde hair, brown eyes, a pair of navy blue jeans and a black top. Her name is Rose Tyler, and her life used to be perfectly ordinary. Nothing ever happened. Not a thing. It's not that she hated her life, no, but she didn't exactly _love_ it either. It was perfectly normal, like millions of other lives in all corners of the globe. And it was rather _dull_.

Dull and uneventful. Up until that day. The day that seemed to be just like any other day back then, but in retrospective, it turned out to be the beginning of something she's never imagined to be possible.

How did it all start? Well, it started on a Friday. Seven AM. Waking up to go to work. She doesn't have to work, not really, 'cos her dad is really well off and they live a decent life. They're not like one of those posh celebrity kind of people, mind you, even though her mum would love it if they were. They're just rich, just another family in which the owner of a large company is the only bread winner. And sure, her parents had their circle of friends and people that her mum, Jackie, insisted they have to keep on good terms with just 'cause it's good for their reputation and such, but her dad, Pete, he's more of an ordinary, good natured, simple sort of bloke. He likes a nice football match on the telly and a cold bottle of beer after he gets home from work, not all these snobbish parties that his wife always tries to drag him to.

And Rose? Rose is somewhere in between. She doesn't mind a good party, but the parties her parents tend to attend are hardly any good, and she usually likes to stay in.

Anyway, back on track. Rose doesn't have to work, but she still does. She doesn't have her A levels because of a really stupid stunt with a certain Jimmy Stone (she still beats herself up over being so deluded and blinded) and her self-esteem is down in the dirt, because let's face it, you _need_ that piece of paper to get anywhere in life. Or at least it helps _a lot_. Although it's a little different with Rose, because she just happens to be the only heiress to the large Vitex fortune that her father has built over the years.

Starting off with healthy drinks he expanded into diet food and finally energy products tailored especially for very active sportsmen, and now, he was the head of a little empire known all over Great Britain as the most accessible bottle of pop that wasn't as unhealthy as regular soda. Brilliant, yeah?

Not so brilliant for Rose, because she wanted to make her own way in the world, not just end up with a job at Vitex somewhere down the road, a job she'd be offered only because she happens to be the only daughter of the CEO, Peter Tyler.

In truth, despite being only twenty-one, she already knew that this kind of work would just not suit her. She hasn't had much of an interest in business of that sort, and she really just wanted to find her own way through life. She wanted to see the world, to meet all sorts of people, to build something from scratch that she could truly call her own, just like her dad did.

So, she worked in a shop. A clothing store. Great way to build your own life, eh? Her mum kept rattling on about it, how she ought to aim for a proper job, but Rose didn't pay it much mind, and her dad settled for showing her the ropes around Vitex once or twice a week whilst she kept on working the single most dull job on the planet, all out of her own choice.

At least she was doing something for herself in a way. That was Rose's only consolation as she made it through a long line of grumpy customers, a fit from her nightmare of a boss and another angry look from her ex-boyfriend, Mickey. Mickey lived near the store she worked in and she always bumped into him here and there. It's almost as if he _tries_ to make them bump into each other, but Rose hopes that's not how it is. They've been broken up for months and she wished that Mickey would accept it, for his own sake if not for hers.

Speaking of consolations, there was one more. _Friday_! No business lectures from her good ol' Dad and no work tomorrow. Rose wasn't one to sulk for too long, so even though her work day has been rather lousy, she cheers up by the time she gets off the bus and makes her way towards their house in the suburbs. Bit too fancy for her liking, really, but her mum likes that sort of thing, a house with a few rooms too many, marble floors in the hall and gold linings on the bathroom mirrors, all of it just screaming _rich_. And just the three of them to live in that big, posh house, just three people to fill up the luxury rooms, halls and bathrooms.

Rose understands her mum, in a way. Both of Rose's parents were rather poor up until Pete's company suddenly began to prosper. Of course they wanted to enjoy it.

Tradition in the Tyler residence was that they'd have a family dinner every Friday. Not the worst and not the best thing in the world, really. Rose loves her parents, loves their virtues and their flaws, all the while remaining painfully aware of both. She sometimes thinks back and realizes that despite the mess she's made of her life, she has been very lucky. Her parents loved her, she had a lot of freedom, she didn't have to worry about money. She had a family, a proper family, with a mum who was a housewife and a dad who spoiled them both to bits.

And to think that if things ended up differently, she may have never really gotten to know her father.

Why, you may ask? Well, he almost died in a car accident when she was just a few months old. Some reckless bloke almost drove right over him, but a blonde girl pushed Pete out of the way just in time, waited with him until an ambulance arrived and then just vanished into thin air, holding hands with this tall man in a long coat.

Her mum told her that story a million times, but Rose never grew tired of hearing it, silently thanking that mysterious blonde girl whenever she thought of her father.

As she makes her way into the dining room (all shiny and new after being renovated recently), her thoughts fly back to the present and she smiles, deciding to focus on the fact that at least it's weekend. God bless weekends!

Her dad, Pete, is already sitting at the table as her mum sets down the plates. Rose helps her out and they start eating, sharing tiny little details from their day, but Rose barely says a word. What's there to say? Her days consisted of a long line of nothing much. It's not like anything _thrilling_ ever happens to her, is it?

"I hired a new man today," Pete says after taking a sip of his favorite beer, "Doctor John Smith. He insists on just being called _the Doctor_, though. Odd bloke, but I'll be damned if he's not a genius of some sort!"

"Why's that, then?" Rose asks with moderate interest. Her father rarely mentioned his new employees, and a quick look at him tells her that he is most impressed with this particular one.

"Brilliant references. He's even got papers from the Queen herself! And he figured out the formulae for _all_ of our upcoming products in less than three minutes," Pete shakes his head in disbelief.

"That's no good though, isn't it? I mean, if some random bloke can jus' walk right in and figure out what it is that you're selling?"

Rose's father smiles at her proudly, taking note of what she always claimed she was not. She's _clever_, his clever little girl, and no matter where she ends up in life, Pete will always feel proud of her.

"Yeah, 'course it is, love. But he's workin' for me, innit? Already got him fixing up all the machines and so on."

"So what is he, then? An engineer?"

"Sort of. I don't actually know. He's just waltzed into my office, hands in his pockets, and said that he wants to work for me."

"And your security's not done anythin' about it? Pete, I swear you're just payin' these men for watchin' the telly!" Jackie rants, but her husband just smirks at her.

"And then?" Rose prompts, also taking no note of her mum, finding herself more and more interested in this new employee of her dad's.

"Then, he says: _I'm the Doctor! You may be wondering why I'm here? Weeell, your top engineer just so happened to win the lottery last night. Brilliant, isn't it? Good ol' chap! Anyway, I can be an engineer. Or a scientist. Or a history teacher. Or a cleaning lady. Wait, no, I'm not doing _that_ again. No chance! But, I can most definitely do engineering and... And things. Yup._" At this, Pete bursts out into laughter, quickly followed by Rose. She cannot even imagine a man behaving in such a way, but her dad doesn't seem to be joking. "So at first I go to call the security, but then he goes on about all these things that only a genius would know, physics and things, I don't even know what, and then he shows me his references, and well... I thought, why the hell not?"

Jackie shakes her head, but before she gets a word in, Rose asks:

"So what's he look like, then? Is he some sort of a shady criminal? Sure sounds like it," she flashes her trademark tongue-touched smile as she goes to collect their plates for washing up.

"Oh, he's quite a looker, that one. My secretary was all over him," he responds with a grin, "You'll see him on Monday. You'll come in the morning, won't you?"

Her smile fades as she nods, "Yeah, 'course I'm coming in."

Of course she would. After all, this is her life. Working a dull job to save the last bits of her dignity and then helping out at Vitex in preparation for a future she really, really didn't want to end up living through, but would most likely _have_ to.

Oddly enough, she finds herself thinking of the strange Doctor John Smith right before she drifts off to sleep that night, but the next day he slips away from her mind. Everything is back to normal.

However unappealing that _normal_ may be.

**~oOo~**

It wasn't until Monday that Rose thought of the man who wanted to be called _the Doctor_ as she made her way to the Vitex headquarters in the morning. She's working the second shift today, and she dedicates every Monday and Wednesday morning to visit her Dad at work and allow him to show her the ropes around the company.

Rose knew that her father liked it when she at least pretended to take an interest in Vitex, and she doesn't have the heart to say no. 'sides, she would most probably end up working there in the end, so why fight the inevitable?

With a sigh she waited for the lift that would take her to the uppermost floor where her father's office was. Many thoughts ran through her head and not one of them was pleasant, meeting the mysterious Doctor being her only consolation. Although, knowing the way her life usually goes, the man would probably turn out to be a balding, middle-aged freak. Her dad did say that _he's a looker_, but it's not like her good old dad has a remarkable taste in men, now is it?

Not that Rose cared whether her father's new employee would turn out to be attractive or not. Obviously she liked a good looking bloke just as much as the next girl, but she paid more attention to their personality, and it's not like she and him would-

"Oh, hello! Blimey, the lift here is a tad shabby, isn't it? Slow and all shaky, that thing. It's almost as if it would snap and fall right down! Mind you, that doesn't happen all _too_ often, but it _can_ happen, and it'd be rather _inconvenient _if it happened today of all days, because, weeell, problems don't solve themselves, do they? No time to waste! Right, yes, I got a little sidetracked, didn't I? Hello!"

Rose raised her eyes from the ground with a small frown and slowly eyed the man that entered the lift. Funny, she didn't even notice that the lift had stopped, but it wasn't her floor yet. Staring him up and down, she noted that he was slim, tall, had some _really_ great, all sorts of messy hair and a nice set of chocolate brown eyes. Older than her, but by no means old, maybe thirty-something. Wearing a red tie, white shirt, blue pinstriped suit and a brown coat on top of that, he was quite the sight for her tired eyes (she stayed up much too late on Sunday, leaving her in a half awake state Monday morning), so she managed a smile even though she found his little greeting rather odd.

"Um, yeah, hello?" Her response came out more as a question than a statement, mostly because she wasn't sure if she should even address his little speech or not. Choosing not to, she glued her eyes to the screen that displayed the number of the floor they were currently on. Eight, nine, ten...

Ten...

Ten...

Nine? But they were supposed to be going up!

The man in the coat hummed to himself happily for a brief moment before noticing that the lift begun moving down instead of up.

"Oh, no you _don't_! Really? REALLY? Why do I _always_ have to be right! Tiresome, that," the man grumbled as he pulled out a strange, metallic... _Thing_ out of his pocket and started buzzing around the elevator with it as if trying to scan something. An expression of annoyance crept up on his face, but Rose found herself distracted from the events as the tip of his tongue stuck out of the corner of his mouth. Why was she even distracted? Sure, he's fairly good looking, but it's not like he's the most handsome bloke in the world. 'sides, he seems a bit weird, doesn't he? Mental, sort of. Talkin' to himself and so on... As if on cue to prove her right, he spun around, still making noise with that _thing_ of his, suddenly dropping down to his knees to scan the floor, then standing up again and shifting his focus to the walls.

"Trajectory changers," he mumbled without looking at Rose, studying the control panel as if it was a miracle of some sort, carefully examining the different buttons. "Right, so, news! This, this lift-not the safest place in the world, not in the least. I said so right away, didn't I? So, I think the sensible thing to do would be to, weeell, make our exit. As in, leg it out the top and climb up. Right about," with that, he pulled up his sleeve to check the time, "Err, _now_?"

"What're you on about, mate? Jus' press the alarm button, yeah? They'll send someone right in." She dismissed with a smirk, unsure if she was more annoyed or amused at his antics.

"No, you see, you don't understand. Check what floor we're on."

With a confused frown, she obeyed and found the display claiming that they were on floor -917. She chuckled, now completely convinced that her co-passenger must be slightly mad, and then said, "Yeah. Think the old thing's completely broken. I'll just..." she trailed off and went to press the alarm button.

"No, no-don't, no, _wait_!" The strange man surged towards her and grabbed her wrist just as she pushed the button and the alarm blared in their ears. A strange electric current ran through her body, emanating from the place where his fingers somewhat forcefully encircled her naked wrist. For a second she stood there perplexed and unmoving, but soon she snapped her arm out and moved as far away from the stranger as the limited amount of space allowed.

"Oi! Watch it! What's your _problem_, then?" She cried a little more harshly than she intended, eyeing him up and down. What if he's dangerous? What is going on here? She'll just call her dad, he'll go and get them out in no time, but... But what is _up_ with this guy?

He stood there, the hand that he touched her with turned palm up as he stared at it, mouth slightly agape. He then turned to look at her, seemingly confused and surprised. A second passed as they stared at one another, but then they both looked away and he cleared his throat.

"Err, no, no problem whatsoever, other than the tiny little fact that we're thousands of miles underground. Quite close to the core of the Earth, actually! It'll be getting warm soon, don't say I didn't warn you," he said nonchalantly and she started feeling a little scared, although not any less interested at the same time. Thing was, she was locked in a lift - a small _box_ - with a man who, although very easy on the eye, was completely bonkers and a broken lift was enough to make him all kinds of _strange_. On the other hand, he was strange right from the "hello", Rose thought to herself.

She found herself drawn to the _strange_, but she'd never admit that.

"Right, and I'm the Queen of England," she scoffed, crossing her arms across her chest and rolling her eyes at him.

That was when she felt the whole lift begin to shake and the man started to panic, as did she, to be fair.

"No no no no! No you're _not_! Not yet the time for that, I'm afraid," he shouted as he pressed the strange device against the control panel and buzzed it until it just blew up. Rose jumped away with a shriek, but he ignored her and stuck his hand straight into the hot mess of cables that was hidden underneath the metallic cover.

"What're you- Stop! You're gonna get electrocuted!"

Without a second thought, she took hold of his free arm with both of hers and attempted to drag him away, but he remained unmoved, his tongue once again appearing out of the corner of his mouth as he played around with the cables, occasionally letting out an _Ow!_ which Rose assumed was a sign of getting shocked by electricity. How the man still stood was a miracle to her, but that did not make her cease trying to pull him away. He was obviously unstable and-

"Oh, but that's _brilliant_!" He exclaimed out of nowhere, "That is some-_OW!_-very, very old technology! Haven't seen that in years!" With that, he wiggled his arm around and pulled two cables out, both of which sent tiny shocks throughout his body.

"What's wrong with you, mate?! You're goin' to die! Just-just let go of that thing, yeah? Let go!" Rose shouted, but he ignored her.

"Go on, go on- I _know_ you're in there! Blimey, I can't reach. And these cables, they're just-just all sorts of, I don't know, _stingy_! Achy! I don't like these cables, no, I don't like them _at all_! Dangerous things! Now, you're gonna have to let go of me if you want to get out of here alive I'm afraid," he said as he turned around to look straight at Rose with a strangely soft expression on his face, but despite his friendly look, she found herself feeling frightened.

"Are you _threatening_ me?"

"What! No, not like _that_, 'course not. What is going on in that head of yours? I meant that I need both of my hands to fix this, err, this _problem_. My hands, they're handy, handy handy hands! And I'd like to have both of them _now_, if possible. Look at that, we're at floor -1471! Nice number, that. Now, would you just let go of me, err, what's your-"

"Rose," she said and he grinned widely as the lift shook even harder. Rose couldn't tell if her heart skipped a beat from fear or from the fact that he, despite being a loony, _did_ happen to have a rather gorgeous smile.

"Nice to meet you, Rose! Now, both of my hands, or within the next few minutes we will be, err, swimming in molten lava? That's a good analogy, yes, yes it is! What is it that you lot always say? Please? No, that's the one thing you always forget to say, but anyway! Please? Let go? _Now_?"

The amount of emphasis on that last word made Rose let go of him. Upon being freed, he immediately stuck both of his hands into the tangled cables as she stood and watched with her mouth wide open, completely unsure of what was going on anymore, only knowing that he was _completely mental_ and she wanted the damn lift to work so that she didn't have to be stuck in a metal box with this lunatic.

He started buzzing around the cables with that metal stick of his as Rose stood in the corner, genuinely frightened because of the unstable lift and several other things, until their descent suddenly ceased and then they started going up very, very rapidly, which pulled them both to the ground.

Rose screamed in terror, the man exclaimed in triumph and started laughing madly, and a few seconds later a familiar _ding_ announced that they just arrived on floor number fourteen. The door opened, but she did not stand up, panting in fear.

He stood, extended his hand to her and helped her up. She accepted without thinking.

"There we go! You see, there is something wrong with the lifts. But it's not quite ready yet. This was just a, err, a _test_. We passed it! Then again, I never fail a quiz, so that's not really surprising, is it? Weeell, aside from that _Drowning with the Stars _quiz on the telly. I don't watch that program. It's rubbish, it is! Anyway," he let go of her hand somewhat reluctantly because she still didn't snap it away, too surprised to react or even register his words, "Goodbye, Rose. And d'you know what? Better stick to the stairs for now. It's good exercise. You heard it from me first!"

Before she registered him leaving, he was already out of the lift and the door was closing, ready to bring her up to floor twenty where her dad's office was.

Who _is_ this man?

"Wait! Who are you? What's your-"

The door shut in her face and she slumped back with a sigh, shivering at the perspective of being left alone in this blasted box. Luckily, she arrived without any problem, but her confusion hasn't lessened in the least.

* * *

"Rose, where on Earth have you been? Forty past, it is!" Pete Tyler exclaimed as he stood, walked around his huge mahogany desk and went to give his daughter a peck on the cheek.

_Forty_ past? She must've been stuck for much longer than she initially thought.

"'m sorry, dad. There's something up with the lift. I was stuck with this odd bloke, yeah? But he fixed it, I dunno how, but I'd have someone look into it if I were you," Rose said in a distressed and quiet tone, which made her father feel genuinely concerned.

"Really? No one's said anything. You must've been unlucky. Are you alright, love?"

"Yeah." She took a deep breath and managed a smile, "Yeah, 'm alright. Just have someone fix the lift before somebody else gets stuck."

"'course. Listen, I was going to show you the finance books today, but there's a problem in one of the factories. I'm gonna have to go there and look into it. You're not very upset, are you?" Pete asked with a smile, knowing all too well that his daughter would hardly feel eager to browse through long lines of numbers.

"No, it's okay," Rose said, trying in vain to contain her relief, "I'll just go home, yeah?"

"Actually," Pete cleared his throat, "D'you remember when I told you about that new bloke I hired? John Smith?" Rose nodded and her father continued, "Supposed to be showin' him around today, I was. His first day. I mean, he's done some work on Friday, but that was just in the lab. But I've really got to go and he'll be here any minute, so I thought... Why don't you show him the office, love? Jus' point him to the cafeteria and the like. How's that sound?"

Rose's expression would've gone sour if not for her curiosity in regards to the mysterious man that her dad hired on the spot without ever seeing him before. On the other hand, she wouldn't mind going home and taking a warm bath. Odd day, really. Stuck in a lift with a mad, handsome stranger for the better part of an hour...

Then again, perhaps her life's just so dull that she gets overexcited about the smallest thing. Probably that, yeah.

"I guess I could, if you like," she replied unconvincingly, not quite sure herself if her curiosity being sated was worth sticking around to show some bloke the remarkably dull cafeteria.

"Thank you, sweetheart. This is the third hardware failure in the factory this month. No idea what's it all about."

Before Rose could think of a response to that, the glass door to her father's office opened. Rose was facing away from it, but she turned around to follow her dad's eyes and nearly gasped upon seeing who had just entered the office.

Wonderfully messy hair, that brilliant grin, hands in the pockets of his long coat, strutting as if he owns the place.

The lunatic from the lift.

But he couldn't-

"Ah, there you are, doctor Smith," Rose noticed that the man frowned ever so slightly when being referred to as _doctor Smith_, "Afraid I won't be showin' you around today. Emergency at the factory. May I introduce you to my daughter, Rose?"

She eyed the man up and down. Was _he_ the mysterious Doctor? Well, who else could it be? He's a looker alright, and a freak just as she expected based on what her dad's said about him, but instead of feeling afraid, she found herself filled with a strange thrill.

So what if he's a lunatic? He's... Rather _interesting_, too. 'sides, it's not like she's goin' to be doing anything much. She'll show him the offices and the like and then she'll go home. Oh, and they're not going to be taking the lift. No way she'd ever lock herself up in a box with this man again. Not that the first time was her own choice, but still.

His frown disappeared by the time Pete Tyler said his daughter's name. The man in the coat looked at her intently for a few seconds as if trying to solve a puzzle, but that perplexed expression also faded quickly and the smile that sprawled across his face was unmatched by any she's ever seen. It was weird, really, as if he was genuinely happy to see her, but how could he be? He doesn't even know her. She looked him in the eye with a challenge, determined to find out more about him during the course of the day. After all, not every day do you see a man who laughs maniacally as he sticks both his hands into a mess of rather deadly cables. In theory, any human being would most probably die if trying to do something like that.

But he didn't, did he?

"Hello," the man said cheerfully, "I'm the Doctor!"

Rose observed the Doctor in anticipation, with just one thought running through her mind:

_Well, Doctor, time to find out who you are._

* * *

**A/N: **Hi everyone! ^_^ This will be an AU fic about Ten/Rose that will span across several chapters - I can't say how many, but definitely more than just a few! Expect lots and lots of fluff later down the road, some humor, some angst, some comfort and a ton of love for my one true favorite pairing: DoctorxRose!

Feedback is always very, very appreciated. It motivates me to keep writing! Please let me know if you liked (or didn't like) this, and do forgive me for any mistakes, English is not my first language :)

Some clarifications: this isn't Rose from the parallel universe, this is just Rose who hasn't met Nine. That also explains her age - she is two years older than she was at the start of the show.


	2. Infuriating Mysteries

_"May I introduce you to my daughter Rose?"_

_With a wide grin, the strange man replied, "Hello, I'm the Doctor!"_

* * *

"Nice to meet you, Doctor Smith," Rose said with an ambiguous expression, watching in amusement as the man cringed in response. She chose not to let her dad know that his new employee is the lunatic who fixed the lift, although she wasn't sure why. Technically, she probably should've said it, because for all she knew about the Doctor, he was a total loony and being left alone with him may end up disastrous, but...

She'd just have to take the risk. She was much too curious to just let this go now.

"Rose, you'll show him around, will you? I've really got to go. Trouble's calling," Pete said apologetically as he regarded the Doctor. The man has already managed to optimize the entire lab back on Friday, speeding up the research by over two hundred percent, and Pete really didn't know what to make of it. Brilliant men like John Smith would choose to work with something else than Vitex, something big, something life-changing. After all, for all the money he's been making, Pete still knew that he was just selling soft drinks and he did not try to pretend to be something he was not.

His new employee, however, he was something else.

As soon as her father departed, Rose wasted no time and surprised the Doctor with a question.  
"Who _are_ you?"

He looked at her strangely, but his grin returned soon after.

"What d'you mean? I told you! I'm the Doctor!"

"Right, and you can just stick your hands into a mess of connected cables and then walk away like nothing's happened, yeah?"

She frowned when she noticed his amused smirk. He wasn't supposed to be having _fun_. He was supposed to be _explaining_. After all, she's the daughter of Pete Tyler, his boss, and she could probably get him fired if she so wished. Mind you, Rose wasn't going to threaten him with that, but if worse comes to worst, maybe she should?

She just wanted to know what the hell happened back in that lift, that's all. Surely he could tell her?

"Basically, yeah. So! Tour, yes? You're supposed to be showing me around, Miss Tyler. Not that I'm in a hurry or anything! Not much to do here I dare say, although there is this, weeell, this little _problem_. But that can wait."

"So you're not gonna explain anything then, are you?" Rose insisted, keeping her eyes firmly locked on his. He did not surrender to her challenge, on the contrary, he met her gaze with conviction and amusement, and for some reason she found that infuriating. What was it with this man? She barely knew him, but she felt so strangely drawn to him, too. It's not just his dreamy eyes and messy hair, no, she's seen a fair amount of good looking blokes in her life. It's just... Something about him. Something... Intangible.

Get a grip, Rose, she told herself. She's known him for what, an hour! _An hour!_ Why was she even so angry at him? He acted like a mad man back in that lift, but whatever the problem was, he managed to fix it. She's supposed to be thankful, not annoyed, and yet his aloof demeanor has been getting on her nerves. She wanted answers.

"Oh, I can explain anything! You will find that I know a fair bit of things. Yes, a fair bit, but that doesn't matter! So, about that tour?" he changed the subject, _again_.  
Rose shook her head in exasperation, then walked past him and opened the glass door leading out of her father's office. Fine, tour it is. She'd get it over with, try and extract what information she could, and then keep a close eye on him during her days spent at Vitex. What if he's a spy of some sort? He's certainly bonkers, but maybe it's just an act? For the time being, Rose decided to stay quiet and observe him, too puzzled with her own annoyance to be able to interrogate the Doctor any further.

She walked fast, anger apparent in her stride, but the man followed her at a leisurely pace which did not match her own, hands kept in his pockets, looking around the gray, white, black and blue shades of the office with moderate interest. Acting as if he's seen it all before. He probably has, Rose thought, he ought to have worked somewhere else before he came to Vitex. Where? What was his job? She didn't know that either. She only knew his name. The Doctor, Doctor John Smith. Doctor I-Can-Get-Shocked-By-Electricity-Repeatedly-And-Not-Die Smith. Doctor No-Answers Smith.

She unknowingly shook her head, trying to purge it of her nagging, irrational thoughts, which the Doctor did not miss.

"Something the matter, Miss Tyler?"

"No," she dismissed without even turning to look back at him, then walked on until they went down to the eighteenth floor. She stopped and pointed at a large room that was, much like her father's office, surrounded by glass walls.  
"Coffee room's right here. There's a proper cafeteria on the ground floor," she stated, finding herself surprised with the fact that all of a sudden she was able to keep her voice relatively steady. Perhaps it was because she wasn't looking at the strangely infuriating and hopelessly mysterious Doctor.

"Ooh, brilliant!" the Doctor exclaimed, standing next to her and eyeing the tables, chairs and people curiously. "What's it for?"

Rose couldn't stifle her chuckle as she looked up at him, "Having coffee?"

"Right. Right, that _does_ make sense, doesn't it?"

He met her gaze with a smile and she wished he hadn't, because she was supposed to be mad at him. For what, she couldn't really say. Avoiding her questions, maybe. Being so different and charming in a way he doesn't even seem to be aware of. Rose didn't want any charming men in her life. She's had enough fiascos for the time being; first Jimmy, then Mickey. Going out with a thirty-something bloke would be a terrible idea...

Rose scolded herself internally. What on Earth was she thinking about?! She broke the eye contact and went on to show the Doctor where the marketing section was, introduced him to a few people and then moved on.

"How old are you?" she blurted out much to her own surprise, breaking the lingering silence.

"Errr, about, nine hundred and two? Or three. I've lost track. Been out of the loop for a little while, but-"

Her laughter interrupted him right then and there as she shook her head. It was confirmed. The Doctor was a complete lunatic. She'd probably have to tell her dad, too. Not very safe to have a man like that working in a lab, now is it?

"Yeah, and what'd I say back in that lift? Right, and I'm the Queen of England."

"Weeell, you very well might be, one day. You never know!"

She shook her head. Bonkers. Completely bonkers.

"Have you been to the doctor lately, mate?"

"What for? I _am_ the Doctor!"

"Right, yeah, a doctor of _what_ exactly?"

"_Everything_!"

Rose didn't even realize that they stopped in the middle of the staircase. She raised her eyes to meet his and took no note of their proximity, not until she felt that strange electric current pulse between them again, which made her flinch away from him ever so slightly.

"How does that even work? You're not makin' sense!"

"I'm just very clever," he smiled at her smugly and she scoffed, shaking her head at the strange man.

"And what're you doin' in my dad's company, then? Are you tryin' to steal his upcoming drinks? 'cos you know, I'm not going to let that happen. Dad loves this company, yeah? And no loony in a suit is going to be stealing his hard work!"

The more she looked into his eyes, the more she raised her voice, angry at both him and herself for feeling drawn to him. His expression changed drastically as he burst into laughter, clutching to the railing, seemingly about to collapse from laughing too hard.

"What? What's so funny?" Rose demanded.

"Right, that's-that's a very _interesting_ hypothesis, that's all. Yes, _interesting_. Very wrong and very interesting."

"Who are you, then? How'd you fix the lift? What are you doin' in Vitex? I mean, clearly you're not just some sort of a scientist, are you?" her questions spilled from her mouth, destroying her initial plan of slowly finding out what's it all about.

His laughter died down and he looked at her intently, almost as if weighing how much he could tell her.

"Weeell, for starters, I'm not really human. I'm a Time Lord!"

"A what lord?"

"A Time Lord! Go on, Rose, keep up!"

"You're insane, Doctor Smith."

"Oh, drop that whole _Doctor Smith_ thing. It's annoying! I'm the Doctor, _just_ the Doctor!"

"Yeah? Well, _you_ are annoying too!" She regretted her words the moment she said them. She's allowed him to pull her into some sort of childish bickering. Turning on her heel she climbed the stairs back to the twentieth floor without letting him respond to her rather weak comeback, deciding to finish off the tour and avoid the man from there on. Shouldn't be hard. She normally only spent time with her dad, sometimes his secretary... Right, she ought to bring the Doctor to meet Marge. After that, she'd be off. Her dad didn't say how long she's supposed to stay, did he? She should've showed the man the cafeteria and then gone home. How foolish she'd been to stay any longer than that! And to even try _talking_ to him! It was all because her life is so boring. Nothing ever happens, literally _nothing_, so it's no wonder that she's jumped at the opportunity of getting to know this strange, gorgeous-

Hold it right there, Rose. Stop it. Just _stop it_.

* * *

"This is the head secretary, Marge. I guess you've met before?"

"Yes, hello! Ooh," he exclaimed as he shifted his focus away from the middle-aged, brown haired woman onto one of the shelves, "Look at that! Now that's, that's interesting!" He begun sniffing the wooden shelf, puzzling both the women in his company. "But you're not ready yet, are you! It's not_all_ of you!"  
He finished it all off by _licking_ the piece of furniture. Rose cringed in disgust.

"Doctor!"

"Hmm?" He pulled out that metallic thing that she's already seen back in the lift and started buzzing around the shelf. Marge's eyes were wide and round as saucers upon the sight, so she conquered her unexplainable fear of him and asked the question that Rose didn't get to ask first.

"What's that thing? What's it do?"

"Oh, that, that is a _sonic multi-purpose device_. You wouldn't understand," he dismissed and went back to the scanning, mumbling under his breath.

The woman's face immediately fell and she returned to her duties, or at least pretended to, as Rose stared at the Doctor in astonishment. In two quick strides she was at his side, tugging on his arm with a scorning gaze.

"Doctor, that wasn't nice," she muttered under her breath and he finally looked at her, surprise all over his face. Rose wasn't quite as surprised. Some people never watch their tongue, the Doctor was certainly one of them. He's got quite the gob.

"What? What wasn't nice?" he asked a little too loudly and then followed her stare when she looked at Marge, who currently tried her hardest to appear to be very busy. Moments later a hint of comprehension crept up on his face as he let out a quick _oh_.

"Yeah. _Exactly_."

"Right," he turned around and walked over to Marge's desk, his voice soft as he spoke, "I'm sorry. That was a tad rude, wasn't it? Look, I'll show you what my beautiful sonic screwdriver can do! I'm sure you'd do a better job with it than I do, actually. I tend to be a little, weeell, _hasty_, you see, and that's not very good! Now, look here," he pleaded and Marge, although at first reluctantly, obeyed, observing the device in his hand and replicating what he did when he handed it to her. She pointed it at his jacket as instructed, and the whole suit changed color: from blue to brown, matching his coat. The woman gasped in delight, the Doctor smiled at her earnestly, and Rose couldn't help the warmth that settled inside her heart. Yes, this man was completely mad and operated a strange device he referred to as a _sonic screwdriver_, but he knew how to fix a mistake when he's made one. That's a lot more than what can be said about most people, Rose thought as she walked over to stand beside him and watched as he allowed Marge to learn a few commands on that stick of his.

"I'll just go make us all a cuppa, yeah? 's almost lunch time," she said to no one in particular and protested when Marge tried to stop her, offering to do it herself. "No, no. You stay here and keep an eye on Doctor Smith. He's completely bonkers though, so be careful." Rose smiled, allowing just the tip of her tongue to emerge from the corner of her lips in a teasing expression that the Doctor turned around just in time to catch a glimpse of before she turned away and left the room.

"Oi! I'm not _bonkers_!" he called out behind her and she smiled, but she reminded herself that she was supposed to be mad at him, so that smile quickly faded.

The Doctor. Doctor _who_exactly?

* * *

Rose came back just in time to see the Doctor point his _sonic screwdriver_ at one of the printers in an attempt to show off, and the moment he pressed the button, the lights in the entire building just went off. Silence fell, surrounding them for a brief moment until the three of them heard exclamations of surprise, disapproval and just plain old cursing coming from the other rooms.

"Oops. I-I may have used the wrong setting. Just _may_. I mean, it's not _entirely_ impossible that the lights just randomly went out. It happens all the time!"

"What did you do?!"

"Oh, nothing, nothing much! Nothing at all. I'll have it fixed in no time. _In a jiffy_, as you lot always say! Yup, no time at all!"

She could barely make out his face in the looming darkness, but she could still tell that his teeth were exposed in a goofy smile. Insane, infuriating man.

"Dad's not goin' to be happy if you don't get it fixed before he's back, just so you know."

"Oh, it won't take that long. Just need to find the power generators. You have those, don't you? Generators? Of power?"

Rose sighed. Yes, they did have them. Yes, they were all the way down below floor zero, and yes, they'd have to walk over twenty stories down in order to reach them. Brilliant.

"Yeah. Go on then, shift, we're goin'. Stay here, Marge, and if he's not fixed it in thirty minutes jus' call dad, alright?"

"Alright, love. Be careful," Marge said, "Good luck, Doctor Smith."

The Doctor sighed as he said, "Thank you, Marge!"

Luckily for Rose, she knew her way around Vitex almost as well as her father did, so locating the power generators didn't take them long. The Doctor handed her a flashlight - where he managed to keep it, she had no idea, and asked her to keep illuminating the generators as he buzzed around with that strange device of his. She obeyed, but she quickly noticed that he worked mostly in the shade where she could barely see anything at all.

"Why didn't you tell me to move the torch? You can't see a thing in here, Doctor."

"Oh, I don't need it. It's you lot, you humans, you're afraid of darkness. Which is not a bad idea really, considering all the monsters that lurk in the shade. Such as, weeell-no, wait. I'm confusing you, aren't I? But yes, humans, you like the light. The torch is for your sake," he explained, "Ooh, but that is _brilliant!_ Some very old technology. I haven't seen this stuff in, what was it, two hundred years? Yup! Two hundred. Give or take a few years."

Rose observed in disgust as he dipped his finger into a spot of tar of some sort and then brought it to his mouth, exclaiming something about_hyperthonic polarity shifters_ and _something-something alterations_.

"You mean that it _hasn't been seen_ in two hundred years, yeah? 'sides, that's not true. This is latest technology, this stuff! Dad's not cheap about these things, you know."

"No, I said that _I_ haven't seen it! Haven't you heard? Wait, hold on. You still don't believe me, do you?"

She recalled him saying that he was nine hundred years old or somethin', and saying that he was a Time Lord, whatever that may be. That's when it hit her that she was in a dark basement with a complete lunatic, that same lunatic that she was stuck in a lift with just like what, two hours ago? Was she tryin' to get herself killed?

"Nope."

"Weeell, that's alright. You'll believe me in time."

Rose sighed in resignation, observing the man as he tinkered.  
"Y'know, my dad _did_ say that you were _odd_, but he didn't say that you were completely bonkers. You didn't tell him all that stuff, did you? All those completely mental things? About Time Lords and such?"

"No, 'course not!"

"Then why're you telling _me_?"

"Because you're _clever_, Miss Tyler. You ask all the right questions!"

She shook her head but then realized that he couldn't have seen it, so she had to speak up.

"No, I'm not. My dad though, he's pretty brilliant."

"Oh, your father is a, weeell... A great businessman, no doubt! Don't need to be clever for that, just lucky. Sometimes. But you, Rose, you are _clever_."

"Thanks, I guess," she said halfheartedly, not agreeing with him in the least, "Hold on, did you just compliment me or insult my dad? You should've said that he's clever too, you know."

"Insult? I never insult anyone! Essence of politeness, that's me."

She gave him a disbelieving look remembering how he insulted the secretary just twenty minutes ago. Noting that she fell silent, he turned his eyes towards her and took note of her expression.

"Right, well, I'm not used to your human customs! Haven't seen much of you lot lately. Been on my own for a bit."

"You _are_ human, Doctor Smith."

"No I'm not. I'm a Time Lord, I told you! Keep up, Rose!"

"Oh, so we're on a first name basis now, are we?"

"Why not? And remember, I'm the Doctor. _Just_ the Doctor. Drop the Smith. It's odd, that," he said as he returned to the tinkering, "So this is what controls the lifts, eh? Interesting..."

"Why d'you keep mumbling all these weird things to yourself, then?"

"Mumbling? I'm not mumbling! I'm just _calibrating_. I do that a lot."

Unsure of what to say next, she remained silent for a moment, pointing the torch at the Doctor as she watched him work. He wasn't very focused, but yet he seemed quite engrossed in the work at the same time. How that was even possible, she couldn't say. Rose quickly realized that the Doctor was a man she could certainly not understand, even though he's already told her a lot of things. On the other hand, not one of those things could possibly have been true, so it's not like he's said anything of importance.

Although that would explain the lift...

No, Rose. Just _no_.

Suddenly, she heard rustling somewhere behind her and her heart quickly jumped all the way up to her throat.

"Doctor, did you hear that?" she whispered in a voice much smaller than she wished it to be. The Doctor nodded, looking around with a frown, then buzzed his _sonic_ again, finally illuminating the basement.

"There, that's fixed! And now, Rose Tyler, now we'd better go. And by _we'd better_ I mean we _must_. Go on!" He grabbed her hand and she absentmindedly allowed him to hold it as he pulled her in the opposite direction of where they came from.

"Wait! You're goin' the wrong way! And why are we running?"

"Running is good for your health, Rose!" At that, the rustling intensified and his pace quickened to the point of her having to struggle to keep up. "And it's the right way. The shorter way, even!"

To her surprise, the man was right. He pulled her into the lift and pushed the button in the same second. Just before the door closed, out of the corner of her eye, Rose noticed a strange shade outside. She turned to the Doctor, still holding his hand, wanting explanations. Again.

"What on Earth was that? And how did you even know the way?" She asked urgently, expecting disappointment. Two hours of knowing him and she's already noticed that he wasn't one to answer questions unless it specifically suited him.

"It was, err, nothing. Nothing _yet_," he said menacingly but then brightened considerably upon answering the second question, "And weeell, I _may_have already known the way around the whole building. But the tour was lovely. Yes, lovely! Couldn't pass up on the opportunity, could I?"

"What?!" Rose exclaimed, letting go of his hand. Why did she hold on to it for so long? She felt irrationally scared. And irrationally interested. And just _irrational_. She's been acting daft the whole day, that's what she's been doing, and it ought to stop right there and right then. "How's that even possible?"

"I've done a little, err, _overtime_ back on Friday and walked around," he said casually, exiting the lift on the ground floor, hands once again in his pockets. Rose let out a breath of relief upon seeing that everything up there was back to normal. Electricity, normal people, no strange shades and no longer stuck alone with the Doctor.

Great.

"You make no sense," she said with a sigh, turning around to face him as they stood in front of the lifts.

"I get that a lot, don't I? Yes, yes I do. But I thought that this time around it might be better. I think the problem might be you lot, not me."

"What d'you mean, _you lot_?"

"Humans."

Rose chuckled, tired of the emotional rollercoaster she's been on for the past two hours. Curiosity, fear, disbelief, anger, lots and lots of annoyance and alright, alright, a hint of attraction, too. Too much for one day, really.

"No, Doctor. _You're_ the problem. Absolutely."

"But-"

"And now, I'm off. I've got work and you obviously didn't need a tour," she said, looking up at him and regarding those brown eyes of his for a moment that lasted a little too long. He looked back at her almost tenderly, and for a brief second she thought that he seemed confused, almost unsure. He was a mystery, that man, and even though she's set out to find out more about him earlier this morning, she found herself even more clueless now than she was to begin with.

"Right," he said, swallowing thickly before replacing that confused expression of his with a casual grin. "Well then, Rose Tyler, I s'pose I'll see you around."

"Yeah. Maybe. See you," she said as she walked away, asking herself _why_ exactly she felt like she wanted him to stop her.

Needless to say, she spent the entire afternoon at work thinking about the Doctor and the many mysteries that surrounded him.

* * *

"Rose, what's goin' on with you, sweetheart? You're in a daze, you are!" Rose's mum, Jackie, complained as Rose missed what her mother said for the third time that evening.

"Nothin', mum. I'm jus' a bit tired, 's all," she dismissed, eyes glued to the telly. She had no idea what programme they were even watching. She was still lost in thought.

"Are you sure you're not ill? C'mere, let me check your temperature," Jackie said as she brushed Rose's forehead with her lips and then shook her head. "You seem alright, love. What's on your mind, then? Go on, tell me!"

"It's just been a long day, yeah? First I get stuck in the lift at dad's work. Then I have to show this-this _mental_ bloke around, then the electricity goes off, then I meet Mickey on the way home and he's all up in my face about how we shouldn't have broken up and so on, and I feel so bad about it all, you know? And it's just- I don't even know." Rose vented as her mum pulled her into a hug.

"Sweetheart, Mickey's just missin' you, he is. He loved you to bits, you know."

"I know, but he was like a brother. I mean, it was worth a try, but he should find himself a better bird to chase."

"Don't think he knows any better," Jackie said thoughtfully, smiling down at her daughter, "neither do I, really. You're a lovely girl, you are. And I'm not sayin' that just 'cos you're my daughter!"

Rose smiled sincerely and took a deep breath for the first time that day. She's home now. She's got to stop thinking about the Doctor and Mickey and everything. She just needs to relax.

"Thanks, mum."

"And how was the mad scientist your poor father hired? Is he really a looker, then? Fit bloke, is he?"

Trust her mum to remind her of the Doctor just as she made a decision _not_ to think about him.

"Yeah," she admitted with a dose of reluctance, "yeah, he's a looker alright, but he's really weird. Really, really weird and annoying and-"

"Well, we ought to have him over for dinner! I'll tell Pete to invite him over next Friday, that's what I'll do."

Rose tried to talk her mum out of that terrible idea, 'course she did, but once Jackie Tyler decides on something, it might as well be carved in stone. It's happening.

No wonder Rose could hardly think of anything else up until Wednesday, the day when she saw him again. **~oOo~**

She bumped into him first thing when she walked over to her dad's office, ready for studying the finance books or whatever else they were meant to do that day. He had his blue suit on but no coat, and his hair was even more messy than it was on Monday, but it was still the Doctor, and strange as it may seem, Rose felt at peace when she saw him again. Right, so he wasn't just a product of her imagination. Fair enough. Then _what_ was he, really?

"Morning," she said casually, looking at him strangely. They bumped into each other and that was the most contact they've had since the day they met. Rose paid it no mind, though, but he seemed stunned as he looked at her in wonder, speechless for an extended moment.

"Good morning!" he finally said, smiling at her. He pulled his sonic out of the pocket of his trousers and pointed it at her backpack, "Your toast has gone cold. Not anymore!"

Seconds later, she shrieked as her backpack was set on fire after a short buzz from his sonic. He rushed to help her out of it and extinguished the fire, but before he managed to buzz the device again in order to fix the scorched bag, she stopped him by snapping it out of his fingers.

"That's enough. You're not usin' this around the office, Doctor."

"But-but _Rose_! I need it! I just need to make a new one. This one _may_ have gotten damaged during my regeneration. It seems that way."

"During your what?"

"Regene-"

"Oh, Rose, there you are! You're late again, love! What's happened to that backpack of yours, then?" Pete Tyler stepped out of his office and gave Rose a quick peck on the cheek, then turned his eyes to the Doctor. "Gettin' along with my daughter, are you, Doctor Smith?"

The Doctor sighed in apparent exasperation and said, "_The_ Doctor. But yes, yes, I most certainly am."

Rose raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Can I have my sonic screwdriver back now? I need it for my, err, research. Yes, research. Important research on the new... New... Orange and chocolate soda!"

"What?" both the father and daughter exclaimed at the same time, wincing in disgust.

"Extra research is never bad! 'sides, that's what you're paying me for, isn't it? 'course it is! So, can I have it back? _Please_?"  
The face he made at her right there was that of a lost puppy, and Rose could hardly say no. She dropped the device onto his extended hand, fingers brushing his palm very slightly as she did so. And there it was again. That strike of electricity, always quick to catch her off-guard. She looked at him, wondering if he felt that too, and found that same confused look etched across his face.

"What is it that you lot always say?" he asked upon gathering his bearings, "Right, _thank you!_ See, I'm polite, Rose! Now, I'd best get going. Research. Important research!"

"Yeah. I'll see you around, yeah?"

"Of course. Absolutely."

He nodded at her, never tearing his eyes away from her until he turned around and walked off, not saying another word. Rose shook her head and followed her father back into his office.

"He's odd, that Doctor, isn't he?" she asked as they browsed through lines of boring numbers moments later.

"He's completely bonkers, that's what he is." Pete laughed. "But those are the best, sweetheart. Thinking outside the box and all that."

"I guess," she replied unconvincingly and tried to focus on the task at hand, all the while knowing that she won't manage. How could she think of economics when there was a mystery simply aching to be solved?

* * *

She hasn't seen the Doctor until she was about to leave Vitex for the day. She found him talking to Marge and assisting the older woman with her work. The secretary regarded the Doctor with a friendly, grateful look, and Rose stood in the doorway for a moment, looking at him as he excitedly helped Marge with some rather trivial task. There was happiness present on his face, no doubt, and it was then that Rose first thought him _kind_.

It took him a minute to notice that they were being watched, and when he saw Rose his already happy face brightened considerably.

"Oh, hello! Are you leaving?"

"Yeah, I am. Got work," Rose said without an ounce of anticipation in her voice. She'd rather go home or even stay at Vitex, but well, she's got exactly what she asked for.

"I'll walk you to the exit. That is, err, if you don't mind?"

"Sure, I s'pose. I'll see you on Monday, Marge!"

"Take care of yourself sweetheart," Marge said, waving at them both as they walked to the lifts.

Rose shifted uncomfortably in the lift as it started moving down at its regular pace, and the Doctor looked at her for a brief moment before taking hold of her hand in a comforting gesture. She knew she should snap it away, but she still didn't.

"They're fine, the lifts. For now. Don't worry!"

"That sounds reassuring," she said sarcastically but smiled back at him regardless. She then asked out of the blue, "You're not from here, are you?"

"Nope."

"Where're you from? The south?"

He laughed as he said, "Nope."

"Then where?"

"Gallifrey."

"Is that in Ireland?" she asked, puzzled when he laughed even harder.

"I s'pose you could say that, yes."

"Where do you live now, then?"

"Err, I have a box. I live in that box. Of sorts."

"A _box_."

"Weeell, yes. It's a special kind of box, though."

"You live in a _box_. What are you, homeless?"

The lift arrived safely at the ground floor and he let go of her hand. She walked out with a sigh of relief, closely followed by the Doctor.

"No, it's a special box. A... A... _Travel box_! It can travel anywhere in time and space!"

Rose laughed at his antics and said, "I don't believe a single word you say, Doctor."

He offered her a friendly smile as he retorted, "That's alright. I'll show you one day. It's not really a box, you know. It's all sorts of _different_ and it's bigger on the-" he trailed off, "No, I'll just show you one day. More fun that way!"

"You're bonkers," she said, turning to leave the building.

"When will I see you again?" he asked out of nowhere, making her freeze in place. She wanted to see him, 'course she did, but she _shouldn't_.

Despite that, she answered, "Monday. I'm here on Mondays and Wednesdays."

"Oh."

Moment of silence later, Rose said, "Well, see ya."

"Right, yes, err, see you."

She didn't turn to look at him, even though she wanted to.

And that was the first time she's ever looked forward to a Monday. **~oOo~**

She woke up three hours too early on Monday after a rather restless weekend spent on overanalyzing a plethora of all sorts of things. She arrived at Vitex an hour too early, too. Her dad's been away on a business trip since Thursday and he wasn't due to come back until tomorrow, but she said she'd come in and check if everything was alright at the office in his absence.

What she didn't say was that she wanted to meet the Doctor, but well, she sort of did want to. A little.

So Rose took the lift up to floor twelve on which he worked and asked around for him. Nobody knew where he was. Checking the cafeteria brought no result, nor her dad's office nor anywhere else, so she finally went to Marge to inquire after him. A little bit of small talk later, she finally worked up the courage to ask,

"Marge, where's the Doctor? I mean, Doctor Smith. Where's he?"

"Wish I knew, love," Marge responded as she shook her head, "We ain't heard from him since Thursday. Hasn't showed up to work."

"Called in sick?" Rose asked, shocked at how her heart suddenly started racing.

"No. No sign of the man. We called the phone number he's listed, but nobody's picking up. God knows where he went. I hope he's alright. He's a good bloke, that one, isn't he?"

Rose nodded absentmindedly and snuck away from the room very quickly.

She didn't want anybody else to see her disappointment. Not even _she_ wanted to see her own disappointment.

The Doctor has gone missing. Why on Earth did she care this much?

Rose had no idea why, but it was a fact. She cared.

* * *

**A/N:**Thank you so much for the positive feedback on the first chapter! I hope you liked this one too ^_^ I will tie up all the loose ends in due time, so don't worry about that. Please let me know if you enjoyed reading this, and I'll see you soon with chapter 3!


	3. The Missing Doctor

_"Marge, where's the Doctor? I mean, Doctor Smith. Where's he?"_

_"Wish I knew, love," Marge shook her head, "We ain't heard from him since Thursday. Hasn't showed up to work."_

_"Called in sick?" Rose asked, shocked at how her heart suddenly started racing._

_"No. No sign of the man. We called the phone number he's listed, but nobody's picking up._

_The Doctor has gone missing. Why on Earth did she care this much?_

_Rose had no idea why, but it was a fact. She cared._

* * *

Rose didn't really know what to think of it at first. It's not like she knew the Doctor well, in fact, she barely knew him at all. He got them out of that bloody lift, accompanied her on a tour around Vitex (which turned out to be unnecessary), fixed the power in the whole building (after first breaking it) and made her run away from a shade she couldn't truly see. Perhaps she'd better say, _made her run away because he_ _made her paranoid_.

And then, at the end of it all, he asked when he'd see her again, but the next time she was at Vitex, he wasn't there.

Rose thought back to her initial idea of him being a spy. Could it be that she was right? Was it possible that he was only there to steal the secrets of her dad's company and that's why he suddenly disappeared, 'cos he's got what he wanted?

She shook her head, staring absently at the television screen in front of her. She led a dull life, comfortable but dull, and she hasn't met many people. Not many, no, but the ones she's met, she liked to think she _knew_. And there was a kindness in his eyes that she couldn't have just imagined, could she? Was it an illusion caused by the fancy she has taken towards him? Not that she fancied him or anything. He was just... Odd. And odd was _interesting_. And interesting was _good_ when the highlight of your week was the occasional trip to the supermarket.

Rose sighed heavily. She's grown weary of her life over the past few months. Mind you, she tried her best, but her happiness laid elsewhere and she just wasn't able to find it. She wasn't sure that she ever would.

"Rose, love, what're you sittin' in the darkness for? Turn on the light!"

Her father's voice pulled her out of her silent reverie. Rose blinked as if trying to dispel the stubborn thoughts and forced her gaze to focus on Pete, who stood in the doorway, still wearing a suit and tie, freshly returned from his business trip. She must've missed the knock.

Why was she so disappointed about the Doctor being missing? Why was she so worried?

What if something had happened to him?

Rose's heart froze for a second at the prospect, although she couldn't pinpoint why. Mind you, she didn't like it when people were hurt, no, she'd always try and help them if only she could. But it's not like she knew-

Enough, Rose.

She reached towards the lamp and illuminated the room, then stood to give Pete a big hug.

"I had no idea you were home! How was your trip?" she asked, trying to remain cheerful even though her thoughts were far from positive.

"All's fine, it is. But what is this I hear about John Smith not showing up to work? Marge's told me everything the moment I stepped inside the office, she did."

Great. So not only her mum made her think about the Doctor, her father did the very same thing. You just _can't_ win, can you?

"Yeah, I have no idea. Marge told me that he hasn't been at work since Thursday. I hope... I hope he's alright," she said, her tone dropping low on the last few words, eyes drifting to the ground to avert her father's piercing gaze.

"Well, it's Wednesday tomorrow. How 'bout we try and find out where the bloke's gone off to, eh? Call the numbers and such?"

Rose brightened considerably. That was her very own plan, too. She's told herself that she'd coax the Doctor's address out of Marge on Wednesday if he still didn't show up until then. She'd feel extremely stupid visiting him if he was just ill or so, but she simply had to make sure.

She nodded, her spirits lifted for the time being. He's got to be there somewhere.

Right?

* * *

Rose's mind was a complete mess by the time the next day rolled around. Stuck between worrying about the strange lunatic she barely knew and contemplating her own life, she's got next to no sleep and next to no energy, but a glimmer of hope still managed to plant itself inside her heart, fooling her into thinking that the Doctor might show up to work that day.

If he _did_ show up, she'd tell him off and not bother speaking to him again. Why would she? They weren't even as much as work mates, since she didn't really work at Vitex, not yet, and he was _completely_ bonkers. Plenty enough reasons not to chat, or so she thought. Who does he think he is, anyway, skipping work for a whole week without as much as one word? He may think he is the king of the world, but he's certainly _not_. He'll see.

That she even gave him this much thought was enough to frustrate her.

Both grumpy and hopeful, she followed her dad into Vitex early in the morning. After they've both checked the labs all to no avail, they went straight up to Marge.

Rose stood by idly, absentmindedly playing with the hem of her leather jacket as her dad received the weekly report from his secretary and then inquired after Doctor John Smith. Much to her own amusement, she too found herself cringing at her father using the Doctor's full name, but she's had no idea why it even bothered her at all.

"Hasn't been to work, sir, not since last week," an intern that Rose was not familiar with chipped in while sorting big stacks of papers on another desk.

Pete nodded and turned back to Marge with a request, "We've got to make sure the poor bloke's alright. Give me his phone number and address, Rose and I will go have a look."

"But Peter," Marge said much less formally than the intern did, having known her boss for many years, "What about the meeting with the Sports Industries? That's today, in an hour. Ten A.M. sharp."

Pete's face fell as he remembered. It was an important business meeting, one he certainly could not miss, but a man's life could be in danger. Perhaps they ought to just call the police?

"I can go," Rose offered, looking up to her father. "I don't mind, really. I'll be back in a mo'. And we've really got to check if he's okay, yeah? I mean, for all we know he could be... Ill or somethin', I dunno."

She tried to appear indifferent, but in truth, she really wasn't. She had a distinct feeling that something must be wrong, although she knew more than well how irrational that feeling was. After all, for all she knew the Doctor might have been a con of some sort, or being the crazy bloke that he was, he just got bored of work and wasn't kind enough to notify the firm about that. Who knows? Either way, Rose wanted to check it out. To be sure he's alright. For, well, some strange reason.

After a few minutes spent on persuading her dad and a couple of unanswered phone calls to the Doctor's number, she set off to the address she has received from Marge.

**~oOo~**

Rose got off the bus in a painfully familiar area of London and looked around anxiously, taking in her surroundings in full before she took another step. Everything was just as dull as her life normally was, dipped in shades of gray; the streets were full of concrete buildings on every side of the road, filled with simple bedrooms for those that couldn't afford to move out of the estate. The estate that was commonly known as the Powell Estate.

She gingerly took a couple of steps before coming back to her usual quick pace and made her way to her destination, regarding the changes the years had made in the area. After all, she hasn't been to this street in nine years. And this street-this place-this part of the city, it was just... Paved with memories.

There was that chip shop around the corner that they all loved, looking shabby just as it used to, but the smell was very inviting. Oh, and the playground she always used to go to, that was there too, and the bench on which she and her mum used to sit down to feed the pigeons, that stood the test of time just as well, although it was now green instead of red. But all in all, it was her home for the first twelve years of her life, up until her dad's company suddenly took off. Those first years of her life she lived here, on this council estate, in a stuffy two bedroom flat, just one of the many flats in one of the many blocks that all looked the same. Rose remembered the family Christmases when she'd only get candy, her mums birthday when all they were able to give Jackie was a handmade card from her daughter, Pete's sad eyes as he sold their old car to further support the company; that was Rose's past. She wasn't ashamed of it, she didn't regret it, but she still never returned to this estate after they've moved out.

It was odd, really, how it all became good basically overnight. A large manufacturer took an interest in her father's work, a contract has been signed, and a few months later they never had to worry about money anymore. It was just one more stroke of luck in Rose's life, one of those things she never took for granted but remained grateful about. Her memories of the Powell Estate weren't all bad, really. It was her childhood.

_This is it_, she thought as she stopped next to the staircase of her old building. Could it be? He lives in _that very same building_? Just one floor above their old place? How's that even possible?

Although, why _wouldn't_ it be possible? The man can live wherever he likes. 'sides, he did mention living in a _box_, which would be a good euphemism for the tiny flats people had to choose from on this council estate. With a shake of her head, Rose climbed the stairs all the way to _his_ floor, her heart beating its way up her chest, feeling as though it was now in her throat, taking her breath away.

He'll open the door. She'll tell him off. Where else would he be, anyway? She's gotta admit, though, it _is_ an odd place to live for a surely rather well off bloke. He's a genius of some sort, why's he living in a council estate? He's got to be rich. Or maybe...

_For god's sake, get a grip, Rose!_, she shouted inside her own mind and stopped in front of the door numbered _717_. That was it. She reached his apartment, which strangely enough was exactly one floor above their old place. The place she grew up in.

Rose dismissed the strange urge to go downstairs and ring the bell to their old flat, see who lives there, see what it looks like now. What would it help, anyway? Even if some of her best years were spent in that tiny apartment, it didn't matter anymore. Odd as it may be, her family felt more intact back then, they had all those different values, and a night spend watchin' _The Wheel of Fortune_ on the telly was the height of their happiness. And now? Now, she was an outright disappointment to her parents, she was; although they've never shown her that, she still knew. And she's got no idea what to do about her life, not really.

She briefly wished she could be like the Doctor. Completely bonkers, but also undoubtedly brilliant. She accepted that he was, in fact, very good at whatever he was doing; it was clear to see from the way her dad spoke of him. The man was clever, and Rose couldn't help thinking that she'd surely find her way through life with a brain like that and great looks to match.

With a deep breath, she rang the doorbell and braced herself.

She was planning to tell him off, she was. She'd tell him that he's an idiot for not showing up to work, and that _grown ups don't act like that, Mr. Smith_, she would say _exactly_ that. And he'd get upset, surely, but that was the whole point.

She _would_ tell him off, but nobody answered the door.

She rang again and then once more, and finally heard a voice scream out in a grumpy tone,

"Hold yer horses, I'm comin', for chrissakes! Bloody hell!" came the voice from inside the apartment, a voice that sounded nothing like his. It was, in fact, a female voice, a cranky one at that.

Rose frowned as the door opened, revealing a woman in her late forties. Red hair with streaks of gray, tired eyes, a face that spoke of years of a few beers too many. With an angry expression on her face the woman eyed Rose suspiciously.

"What is it, girl? What d'you want? It's not even bloody noon yet!"

"Um, I-I'm looking for the Doctor? He left us this address, he-" Rose stuttered under the woman's annoyed gaze.

"Doctor? Doctor who? You ain't finding any doctor here, lass. Couldn't afford one if I tried! Them people in the government, they're stealin' from us, I'm telling ya! Stealing our money!"

Rose's eyebrows shot up in confusion. Right. She's definitely not finding the Doctor here. He may have a girlfriend, but Rose strongly doubted that woman would meet the girlfriend criteria for a man like the Doctor. He's probably more into the beautiful-but-intelligent type, and probably a great deal younger, too.

Deciding to check the neighboring flats, she bid her goodbyes to the hungover redhead and knocked on the next door.

And then the next. And the next. No one in that building has ever heard of the Doctor.

She double checked and then triple checked the address with Marge on the phone, she tried his number again, all to no avail. No sign of the man, he's never lived there, that much was certain.

Then where did he live? _Where_ was he? And, perhaps more importantly, _who_ was he?

Doctor _Who_, indeed. Doctor-Nobody-Knows-Who, rather. What was she to do? She's gone back to the office, told her dad of her findings and they rung up all the hospitals in London, which took them hours upon hours, considering that the Doctor's name was a very common one. They spent hours on the phone and ended up with nothing to show for it; he was nowhere to be found.

That was when Pete came up with the idea of calling his mate, Jerry, who worked for some sort of a government agency. He asked him to look up John Smith, born on the day that the Doctor had written down as his birthday, and a quick scan later, they found out that there was no such person in the database. Or, there were four, but they looked nothing like _their_ Doctor.

Meaning he has either never existed or provided them with fake information.

It was a difficult situation, and although Rose was (admittedly irrationally so) convinced that the Doctor wasn't in fact a con, her father jumped to the only right conclusion and decided that he must have been a spy for their rivaling company, stealing formulae for their upcoming soft drinks.

He promptly told Marge that Doctor John Smith has been fired and went back to work while Rose had to make her way to Henrik's, the store she's worked in.

And there and then began yet another dull day, even emptier than what she was already used to, because it was void of the mysterious man she has given one too many thoughts to ever since she first met him.

With no chance of finding him, too. What did she have to go by? A box. What _is_ a box? How can you live in one? What else? Time Lord. She's already checked that one on the Internet, she did, and she's found nothing of interest. Some crazy conspiracy theories that had nothing to do with the Doctor.

Something could have happened to him, but Rose couldn't figure out how to find him. She truly knew _nothing_ about him.

That didn't mean that she'd give up, though. Much too curious and concerned about the stranger, she spent the next few afternoons searching the streets of London for a sign of... Well, she didn't know exactly _what_. For a sign of _something different_. Because that's what the Doctor was. Different.

**~oOo~ **

Two weeks have passed since Doctor John Smith was last seen at Vitex. Rose's dad, Pete, was constantly upset about not only losing his best employee but also finding out that the man was likely a spy, although persuaded by his daughter, he filed a police report about the missing scientist and even helped her when she went to hang some posters which included the photograph from his Vitex ID. Much like her, he had a hard time believing that the man would turn out to be a liar, but having been in the business for several years now, he knew better than to trust people blindly after they have failed him once.

For Rose, those two weeks were very strange. She was worried about him. Dreamt about him once, even; an insignificant, odd little scene. In the dream, she walked alongside him on a busy London street up until they reached a dead end, some sort of an abandoned alley. In that alley, on a gray wall, they found a peculiar graffiti; not really a drawing, just two simple words.

_Bad Wolf._

She drew his attention to it by pointing at it, and then the dream came to an end.

Why she'd even dream of the man, she had no idea, but the one thing she knew was that she was even more dissatisfied with her life now that she met a man who certainly knew how to enjoy his. Complete lunatic with all sorts of mad ideas, but brilliant and somehow _free_. She felt drawn to it, she couldn't deny that, and suddenly the confines of Henrik's and Vitex felt more like a burden than ever before, invisible shackles which held her in place when all she wanted to do was to run. Pete looked at her with sadness in his eyes as she forced herself to do her usual work at his office, seemingly looking forward to nothing at all, not now and not in the distant future.

She could've used a good friend. She's got her mate Shareen, but Shar wasn't that great a friend, not really. Many times she'd use Rose to get ahead in life, many times did she take advantage of her, but not once did Rose hear a _sorry_. So, yeah. She didn't really feel like hanging out with Shareen right at now.

Mickey has always been a good friend, but then they started up this whole relationship fiasco and that was done for, too.

Up until the evening two weeks after the Doctor's disappearance, when she walked towards the bus stop after work and ran into Mickey who, as usual, shot her an angry look.

Rose looked back at him, pang of sorrow in her heart, and she suddenly realized that people come and go, and you can never be sure when, or if, you will see them again. She took them for granted, she just _assumed_ she'd see them again, but the Doctor disappeared, didn't he? He did, and it was that thought that spurred her on and made her act.

Instead of looking away and ignoring him the way she usually did, Rose decided it was about time at least _one_ of them grew up. She walked over towards him, catching the young man completely off-guard.

She looked at him seriously and he almost shivered under her gaze, so with a fair bit of confidence she simply asked, "Mickey, what're we doing?"

"Huh?" her ex-boyfriend responded eloquently, completely surprised by the turn of the events.

"We're both grown ups, yeah? In _theory_. We can't just go around town glaring at each other, can we?" she said in a firm tone, although her heart was racing. "We've always been good friends. We shouldn't have tried anything else."

At that, she waited for him to nod. With a slump of his shoulders, he sighed and finally did make a gesture of agreement, accepting the full truth of her statement. He was angry at her, that's right, but he wasn't angry about _losing her_, he was angry about being broken up with and losing a great friend. They'd both been very foolish, and who knows how long it would've went on if Rose didn't walk up to him that day.

"Let's be friends again, Mickey. I bet you're a proper mess now that there's no one around to fix you dinner on Sundays, so I ought to help you out before you starve," she said softly with a small smile and extended her hand for a handshake. After a moment of hesitation, Mickey smiled back and gladly accepted her gesture.

They went out to the pub to catch up. Mickey was alright, working his car mechanic job, had his eyes on a girl from the shop, Trisha. Rose filled him in on Vitex and her work, but did not mention anything about her love interests. Mostly because she's had none.

But then, he asked, "What about you, then? Any interesting blokes around?"

And it was funny, because all she could see or think of was the Doctor. She saw his brown eyes and messy hair as if he was right there with them. She recalled the way those eyes bore into hers as they parted ways, when he asked her _"When will I see you again?"_ and she, strangely enough, wanted him to stop her.

But he didn't, and then he disappeared. And she did everything in her power, but she still couldn't find him.

"No," she said while sipping her drink, "None."

**~oOo~**

Another weekend went by and she came back to Vitex on Monday. She still found herself looking around hopefully as she made her way to the twentieth floor, and upon saying good morning to her dad, she went for a cuppa with Marge to start the day. She liked the older woman; Marge was smart, and Rose admired her for making her way through life despite not having her A levels. Seeing Marge do so well gave her some sort of hope for her own future, in a way.

Meanwhile, during the time the Doctor was gone, things at Vitex have gotten a little strange. Rose's dad would tell her everything in the evening at the dinner table and she's heard stories of missing equipment, people disappearing for a few hours and coming up with lame excuses for their absence, that sort of thing. Neither Rose or Marge had any clue as to what was going on, and both agreed that it was worrisome as they sipped on their tea, but didn't dwell on the subject. It was just yet another thing for Rose to wonder about. She felt as if everything around her was mysterious as of late; everything aside from herself.

"Marge," Rose said quietly after some chit-chat, "Where d'you think he's gone off to? The Doctor, I mean."

"I've got no clue, love," Marge responded in a sad tone. "But, between you and me, I don't think he was a con. He's a good lad, that John. He reminds me of my son. Mind you, Jeremy is younger, but you know what I mean."

"Yeah." Rose nodded and then shook her head. "I don't think so either. I mean, he's _weird_ alright, but he didn't seem like a-"

"Didn't seem like a what?" A voice came from behind the door, effectively interrupting Rose and rendering her speechless. Moments later, a very familiar face showed up in the doorframe, followed by a wave of hand and an enthusiastic greeting. "Hello! Blimey, did I miss a tea party? I _love_ a tea party! There was this one time on Yunar Six when I got trapped with a tea addict. But he'd only drink it warm, you see, which makes perfect sense, because who likes their tea cold? And we, we were trapped in a _fridge_. And his species becomes murderous when they don't get their tea. That was rather... Unfortunate, I s'pose. Good ol' Kiren, he really did like his tea. Right, yes, hello!"

The Doctor waltzed right in, hands in his pockets, seemingly oblivious to the shock painted all over the faces of the two women that sat before him. Or, well, maybe not exactly _sat. _After the initial shock wore off a little, Rose stood immediately and marched over to him, taking big, angered steps, pulled him by the lapels with an apparent fury, bringing their faces very close together. She did not intend to snog him senseless, though, even though (much to her dismay) that strange spark struck her the moment she came close to him.

She just wanted to shake some sense into that impossible, infuriating, careless, thoughtless _idiot_. What on earth was he thinking?! He goes sauntering off somewhere, says not a word, and then comes back like nothing?! And to think she's gone and searched for him! Foolish, foolish Rose! Her dad was right, con or not, the man wasn't worth the time. Not at all.

"Err, hello Rose?" he repeated for the third time, looking down to meet her eyes as she looked up at him with a big frown, still holding on to the lapels of his brown suit jacket and refusing to let go.

"Where on earth have _you _been?! You do realize that you've been fired, right? Three weeks! _Three weeks_ you've been gone for! _Three weeks_, no sign of you! And then you just come marching in like that, d'you? I was-" she trailed off, losing her confidence for a brief moment, "_We _were worried about you!"

His eyes widened, brow furrowed as he eyed Rose in confusion, still making no attempt at moving away from her. His eyes drifted up to the ceiling for a moment as if he was deep in thought, then traveled back down to lock on hers.

"Of course I realized that! No, wait-" he said, frown deepening, "Did you say I was fired? But _why_?! Rose, I've been working hard! Spent a whole four and a half minutes fixing a faulty pipe! And did some science-y things. That too. Wait wait wait. Did you say _three weeks_?"

"Yes! _Three_!" she exclaimed, letting go of his jacket and giving his chest a little push. She couldn't believe the cheek on that man. Showing up back at Vitex and playing dumb? That's not gonna work with her, not a chance.

"Oh. Oh, that's... That's... Odd? Yes, odd. But-but-"

"Don't try to excuse yourself, Doctor. You've been fired, yeah? Dad's well fed up with you! So am I, if you care to know!"

"I didn't realize that it's been three weeks, Rose. I meant to come back the next day! There are things here, you see, things I need to..." He trailed off again and ran his fingers through his, sadly still very gorgeous, hair.

"Yeah? You _meant_ to come back? And then what? You got lost on the way, did you? For three weeks!" Rose exclaimed, arms crossed over her chest. She was aware that she was starting to sound dangerously like her mum, but she couldn't help it. The Doctor had an easy time making her angry, especially when she was genuinely worried about him and he played it off as nothing.

Not that he owed her something or anything, no, 'course not. But it's called _common decency_. He should go and get himself some of that.

"Sort of, yeah!" He smiled which only annoyed her even more, because it _was_ a rather brilliant smile. "I'll tell you later. I've got to go get my job back. Back in a mo!"

With that, he waltzed right out of the room just the same way he came in, leaving Rose and Marge staring at one another in shock, the former shivering from anger.

So many hours spent worrying about him, about this, this _idiotic_ stranger, and what? And nothing!

Underneath all her fury, she felt grateful to see him safe and sound, but she would never let that show. No, the moment when he stepped out of that office, Rose would give him a piece of her mind until he finally proved answers to all of her nagging questions. Where he was, what he was doing at Vitex, and the whole Powell Estate thing. _Everything_. EVERYTHING.

* * *

She waited right outside her dad's office until the Doctor came out about five minutes later, perfectly pleased and smug. He flashed her his Vitex ID and said no more.

"No. Did dad seriously hire you _again_? What did you do?" Rose asked, dumbfounded enough to lose her frown for a moment.

"I'm just brilliant! And clever. Yup. Right, back to work. I heard there's been things going missing, isn't that right? In the lift, I bet. It's the lift, Rose. Mark my words. _Don't_ use the lift." With that, he started walking away.

"Oh, no you don't!" she exclaimed, pulling his coat and stopping him in his steps. He turned around to face her, eyebrows raised, ambiguous expression on his face, silently asking a question: _What is it_?

"You're gonna tell me where you've been. And where you live. And why you've been gone. And why things are goin' missing. And you're going to tell me _now_," she demanded, determined not to let him go until he _did_ tell her.

Not that she wanted to let him go. In all fairness, she was happy, really happy to see him again, but considering his aloof demeanor, she had to stay guarded and not reveal her true emotions.

"How long did you say it's been?" he asked instead of addressing her questions.

"Three weeks! _Three weeks_, no sign of you!"

"Oh... Blimey, my TARDIS must have missed the mark. By a bit. A tiny tiny bit! We've gotten in a bit of trouble, my ship and I. She's still recovering."

"Your _what_?"

"My TARDIS! Time And Relative Dimension In Space!" He smiled proudly, then realized that Rose had no idea what he was talking about, so he clarified, "My, err, my _box_. You know, I told you. I live in a box. Of sorts."

"Look at you, you've got this whole story all figured out, don't you? You've even made up a name for the thing," she commented, shaking her head and trying hard not to smile.

"Oh, no," he protested, "That's not me. I didn't come up with the name."

"No? So there's more lunatics like you out there?" she half-joked, but to her surprise, his expression instantly fell and his eyes drifted away from her face, down onto the floor. Before he did look away, though, she registered a very brief hint of hurt in his countenance, so strong that it couldn't have been mistaken for anything else, and she instantly regretted yelling at him, although she couldn't say why.

"No. There are none like me."

He remained silent after that. She still held on to the sleeve of his coat, squeezing it tighter, surprised by the amount of emotion that poured into his voice. He was usually very loud and a tad insane, the Doctor, but what if it was all just an act?

Doesn't explain where he's been, though. No, it doesn't. But Rose couldn't help feeling sorry for him, 'cos no matter what's happened, it must have taken its toll on him.

When she spoke next, her voice was considerably softer.

"Blimey, I was gonna tell you off, I was," she said, "But now, I don't even feel like it anymore. You're good at this, you are."

He chuckled and finally looked up, meeting her eyes bravely as if trying to read her mind. He regarded her for a moment before he spoke again.

"I'm sorry. That you were-" much like her, he froze mid-sentence and transformed it into something more casual, "That _everybody_ was worried. I didn't mean to. I ran into some trouble. It's just... Sort of what I do? Yup! And I, err, I had no means of coming back. Although, time machine, but as I said, my ship got a little, weeell, damaged. She'll be all fine, though! She's a tough thing, my TARDIS."

Rose finally let go of his sleeve then shook her head and said, "You're bonkers, Doctor."

"That's good, isn't it?"

"No," she retorted despite the resounding _yes_ she had in mind.

He smiled at her knowingly. In his eyes, she still saw a hint of pain, and she realized that whatever he's been through, it must have been painful. She gave him a playful smack on the shoulder.

"Get back to work, Doctor Smith, or you're gonna get fired again."

All of her anger has somehow subsided, now that he was there before her. He was still the same fascinating, infuriating Doctor, and he was alright. She and him would likely never be friends, but she still wanted to unveil the mystery step by step if she'd have the means to do so.

"Right, yes, of course," he said, turned around on the spot and started walking away, but before he walked more than three steps, he turned back towards her. "Come with me? It's boring, all this, this science and all. Mind you, science is _brilliant_, but not on a planet like Earth. You lot, you're still very, weeell, primitive. I didn't mean you!" he quickly exclaimed upon seeing a fresh spark of anger in her eyes.

"Primitive, you say? Well, at least I don't go missin' for _three weeks_ and let people worry about me! You're rude, Doctor, 's what you are."

"Rude? I'm not rude! Or am I?"

"You are," she said with a shake of her head, trying to indicate that he was a lost cause.

"So you've been looking for me, then?" he asked out of the blue, bringing a very faint blush upon her cheeks. She was an idiot to admit to it, even if indirectly. Should've watched her tongue better, but well, too late now.

"We've _all_ been looking for you," she evaded the question, "And I rang you, yeah. Repeatedly. But you gave us the wrong number, didn't you? And the address! Why'd you say you lived at the Powell Estate?"

He swallowed thickly, looked up at the ceiling and rubbed the back of his neck in an awkward gesture.

"Err, I just, picked out an address at random. Or weeeell, not me. My ship did it for me! And the phone, no, the phone was fine. But I never pick it up. Too busy, you see!"

"Right, everybody's worrying about him and he's too _busy_ to pick up the phone!" Rose said sarcastically.

"Plenty to do. The universe needs me. 'sides, it's boring to just sit around watching the telly as you lot do!"

"D'you talk to everyone like this? I mean, all this mad stuff, the whole T... _TARDIS _thing and all?" she asked in disbelief. How was the man not locked up yet? Even if she was starting to believe him in some small way. He was just too odd to not be different, somehow.

"No," he said softly, "Not everyone."

Rose raised her eyebrows and parted her lips slightly. She caught him look down as she did that, down to her mouth, very very briefly, and then back to her eyes.

And there it was. That spark, again, so unexplainable and so very _real_.

And she didn't know what else to say. She wanted to do something, but she'd never ever try. The man was trouble, and she ought to stay out of trouble, live her calm life day to day just as she's always been.

Well, the least she can do is keep him company as he goes back down to the lab. Then she'd make her way up here and spend time with her dad. And not think of the Doctor. What's there to think of?

"Right, I'll take you down to the lab so you don't go missin' again," she said after clearing her throat and looking away from him. She walked right past him, leading him down to his floor, wanting to perhaps ask him a question or two, reassuring herself that he really _did_ make his way back to Vitex from wherever it was that he ran off to, just prolonging their time spent together by a little while.

As the lift arrived at the exact same moment she passed it by, she stepped inside without a thought, her mind preoccupied with other things.

"No, Rose! Not the-" he shouted, reaching out to grab her arm, but it was too late. "Not the lift! ROSE!"

The sliding door slid shut in his face, scaring Rose slightly. She quickly pressed the button that would normally open the little metal box, but it didn't work. She started pushing the buttons frantically, each and every one of them, but that didn't help either. She heard the Doctor buzzing his sonic... What was it? Screwdriver? His _sonic screwdriver_ on the outside, muttering under his breath.

"No! No, no, this is _not_ good. I've been gone for too long! It's _ready_! Rose, you've got to get out!"

"How?! The bloody thing's all locked up!" she shouted, banging on the door helplessly.

"Hold on!" he shouted back and the buzzing noise intensified, but after just a few seconds of this, the lift started shaking and the alarm noise blared in their ears, much like the day they first met.

"Doctor, it's-it's _shaking_! Get me out of here!" Rose screamed in sudden panic. She wasn't terribly afraid of the lift the first time this happened, but now she felt terrified.

"I'm trying! It's deadlocked!"

"It's what?!"

"_Deadlocked_! Never mind that, we've got to get you out of-"

He didn't get to finish the sentence, because the lift started rapidly plummeting down and Rose fell down with it, much faster than the first time the lift _broke_. She hid her head in her knees as she slumped to the ground, and when she looked up mere seconds later, the floor counter said she was on floor number -4189.

"Doctor!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, but heard no response.

"Rose!" he screamed thousands of stories above her, in vain trying to open the damn lift until it suddenly budged, as if whatever force controlled the lift wanted to bring him down with her.

Without a second thought, the Doctor fished out a safety rope from one of his bigger-on-the-inside pockets and tied the knot tightly around his waist before attaching it to a wheel of sorts, which he then tied to the metal line that pulled the lift.

Thinking no more of it, he jumped down into the shaft, with nothing but a regular rope keeping him from falling to his death, determined to rescue Rose no matter the cost.

* * *

**A/N: **I'm sooo sorry for the late update. I don't intend to update this rarely and I'm very sure the next chapter won't take half as long. I've just had busy evenings, and that is when I get to write. :(

I know this seems like more of an adventure kind of thing so far, but I assure you there will be _tons_ of fluff. I just think this story will turn out a lot longer than I originally anticipated, as they still don't know each other that well...

Thank you so much for your feedback, and let me know what you like/hate so that I can improve! ^_^ See you soon!

P.S. How do you feel about a chapter from the Doctor's PoV? Yes or no? Let me know!


	4. Lost and Found

_"Doctor!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, but heard no response._

_"Rose!" he shouted thousands of stories above her, in vain trying to open the damn lift until it suddenly budged, as if whatever force controlled it wanted to bring him down with her. _

_Thinking no more of it, he jumped down the shaft, with nothing but a rope keeping him from falling to his death, determined to rescue Rose no matter the cost._

* * *

It took him about twelve floors to figure out that making his way down like this was just inefficient, impossible, fine, _improbable_ without alien technology, which obviously was at work in this situation. Rose needed help, she needed it _now_, and if he had to make his way thousands of floors down, so very close to the core of the Earth, he'd need his ship.

Reaching the basement at Vitex, the Doctor wasn't surprised to find that the elevator shaft did not come to an end there. It went on for thousands of feet deep into the ground, but the people who worked at the company could not see it due to a defense mechanism similar to that of his TARDIS, the chameleon circuit. Of course, this was a much inferior system, so his eyes easily spotted the trickery.

He unhooked the rope and as soon as his feet landed on the tiled floor, he began to run without a moment's hesitation. Rose Tyler was in danger, and for whatever reason, that bothered the Doctor so much more than any other danger he had ever gotten himself into, and there'd been a lot of _that_ in his past, recently more so than usual. He'd grown reckless, careless with his life, feeling as though he had nothing left to lose. There was nothing to hold on to, no one to mourn him if he died.

His TARDIS, his rather _magnificent_ spaceship, was parked just around the corner in the basement. All he'd have to do would be to lock on to any life forms below the ground level and materialize his ship there.

That is, if Rose was still...

Of course she _was_. No question there, Doctor! She had to be.

He barely knew her. He knew a few things. Just a few. For one, she was often angry at him. Two, she looked at him as if he was some sort of a mad man, which in all fairness probably wasn't too far off, was it? Nope! Three, she was so... So... So _lovely_ that his two superior Time Lord hearts couldn't quite keep up when she was in his presence. Just, weeell, beating a tad too fast.

A bit.

It was new. It was odd. It was life when... When all he knew was death.

He pushed his musings aside as he locked onto the coordinates and sent his ship straight down the elevator shaft, all the way to where Rose Tyler was. He only came to London, to this company, to investigate this very thing, the evil force that had now kidnapped the innocent young woman. The Doctor didn't know the reason behind Rose being taken, but the thing that truly mattered was ensuring her safety. Finding out the reasons could have been done later.

His TARDIS landed with a thud, and the screen showed him that he was in a cavern of sorts, a very warm one at that. Without a second thought, he rushed outside only to be hit by a wave of overwhelming heat. Not surprising, if one were to consider where he'd been; nearly at the core of the planet, that's where. And Rose, Rose was out there, too.

His mind raced. The TARDIS sent him down here, but he couldn't see Rose anywhere. Checking the area with his sonic and finding nothing, he realized that he'd really have to hurry. He was a Time Lord, his body temperature was cooler than a human's, and if the heat was nearly unbearable to him, it would soon be deadly to Rose.

_Rose_!

"ROSE!" he shouted as he removed his coat, threw it inside the TARDIS and started to run in a random direction. She had to be out there somewhere, and he'd just have to find her.

Everything around him was bright red and steaming. There should be no air to breathe with, and yet there he was, able to both breathe and run. His eyes quickly caught on to the fact that this cavern was not natural; no, whoever came to this planet had prepared themselves this little nest for their own use. What were they after? Where would they have taken Rose?

The thought of the danger she undoubtedly was in sent him plummeting into a state of extreme anxiety and fear, two things he rarely ever felt. It was all his fault, everything, _all_ of it. He came to Vitex to try and protect them from danger, but then he returned much too late. He should have triple checked the coordinates when he made his way back to London.

He meant to stop this while it was still growing; instead, he'd have to trample it when it was ready and, by the looks of it, capable of expanding across the whole planet. The cavern was _massive_! Impressive really, if you think of it, what trouble some races go through to take control of this little piece of rock floating in the solar system. This little Level 5 planet, still very insignificant at this point in its timeline, but oh, the Earth will be _important_! The cradle of humanity, and they will spread out across the stars, they will.

But only if he stopped whatever was happening right now.

"Rose!" he tried again, but all that answered him was his own echo.

He took out his sonic and scanned the area for signals of life. He found none, which could mean two things: she wasn't quite there, or she was...

No. She _couldn't_ be.

"Go on, go on, go on! She's got to be here. Go on!" he pleaded as he scanned one of the walls of the cavern until the readings changed. There was something behind that wall...

A change of setting on the sonic screwdriver and the door slid open, revealing a secret room, in the middle of which stood a very big cauldron, and next to it, tied to a chair that looked as if it belonged in a spaceship, was an unconscious Rose Tyler.

He disregarded it all, the danger, the possible enemy, and he rushed towards her. Before long his hand cupped her cheek and soon enough he raised her face to check if she was breathing while his other hand checked her wrist for a pulse.

She was alive. The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief and set her free using the sonic as he pondered his options. He needed to get her into the TARDIS - _immediately_. But to leave her alone in this place in order to bring the ship around wasn't even an option. No, he'd have to carry her.

He took her unconscious form in his arms as he struggled in vain to quiet his racing hearts. It was all stupid, foolish, undignified, it was _very wrong_ for a Time Lord to feel that way. He didn't know her. He didn't know her at all.

But for that short moment, as the smooth skin of her bare arms felt burning hot against his hands, he forgot that he barely knew her. He forgot where they were. He forgot everything but the sensation of carrying this perfect stranger in his arms, the memory of her small smile, the kindness in her eyes when she looked at him after his admission of there being _no one else like him_.

And then, just like that, the moment passed.

And they were still in danger. The fact that he was allowed to find her so easily must have meant that...

That whoever stood behind this plan _wanted_ him to find her. And that couldn't have meant anything good.

A sudden noise made him turn his head in a different direction, and there, in a glass capsule, he saw Marge. Yes, Marge, the secretary from Vitex, and right next to her was Robert, a man he worked with in the lab, and then three more people from the company.

What was this all about? Just _how_ late to the party was he?

Rose breathed uneasily in his arms, the temperature of her body unusually high. He had to get her to the TARDIS, but there were the others to worry about too, not to mention whoever was behind the plan. The Doctor was still yet to put together all the pieces of this confusing puzzle, even though he felt as if he should have made sense of it all by now.

It was then that he spotted a red, bubbly liquid that was getting pumped directly into the glass tubes in which the Vitex employees were trapped. He rushed to the so called cages with Rose still in his arms, then set her down gently to try and sonic the tube open. He did not manage to do so, it must have been deadlocked.

"What is this? Show yourself!" he shouted angrily.

"We need a new planet. This will be our new home," a voice came from behind him. He immediately turned around and crouched by Rose to defend her, then scanned the area until his eyes landed on a person in a white lab coat.

They resembled a human well enough, but it was still easy to tell that it was just a deception, much like the hidden underground path in the basement. The person's skin had a decidedly red hue, the texture of it was too uneven for a human, and as they extended their hand, a ball of fire appeared in their palm.

The Doctor immediately recognized the stranger to be an Iturian, descendant of an ancient race whose planet had been destroyed during the Time War, and as he made that discovery, everything slowly began to fall into place.

"This planet is inhabited," the Doctor said calmly, "By a brilliant race! Humans. At the very beginning of their journey to the stars! You wouldn't have heard of them yet, not at this point in your timeline, but you _will_. Soon enough. What are you doing to them? What have you done to Rose?" he demanded as he wrapped an arm around Rose in a protective gesture.

"I am alone. I investigate. They are test subjects," the Iturian replied, "I researched. Start from here... Humans drink the improved mixture... And they will become like _us_. Together, we will rebuild our empire... Lost in the War... Destroyed by your people... _Time Lord_." he spat out the last two words.

The Doctor's hearts clenched. He knew all too well how many grand races fell during the Time War. If only he could turn back time...

But he _couldn't_. There was no way back. The only thing for him to do now would be to save the Earth in any way he possibly could.

He came to Vitex because something was wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it, not when he first arrived. It was a slow process and he missed the development of it, coming in for the grand finale, but he was able to piece it all back together after hearing what he had just heard. Iturians, having barely survived the Time War in very small numbers, found themselves a new planet and lived on, but this one must have gotten stranded.

Vitex drinks were very popular all over Britain - why, the Doctor couldn't fathom, they were positively _disgusting_ - and after some adjustments, Iturian DNA would be passed on to the humans who drank Vitex soda, turning them into a similar, if slightly inferior, race. That way, the more people would have been changed, the more the Iturian army would grow, finally expanding all over the planet.

The red liquid slowly seeped into the glass tubes in which Marge and the others were imprisoned, and the Iturian appeared to be moved by that. His eyes shifted from the Doctor to the others and back and forth, an expression of unease painted all over his face. Fiddling with a strange remote in his hand, he seemed to be holding himself back from stopping the whole process.

The Doctor knew enough of the alien's race to know that they were... They were _peaceful_. And only when pushed to desperation would they act the way the alien was just then, but he didn't _need_ to. He would help him, he would save the Earth, and nobody would die that night.

"What's your name?" he asked simply.

"Jin'lar."

"Alright, Jin'lar, listen to me. Just _listen_. You don't have to do this. No, really, you _don't_! Your race never fought a single war, not even one, and you plan an invasion? These humans, these brilliant beings, they will lose their lives, their homes, their entire _future_ because of you. That's not something you want to live the rest of your life with. Trust me."

His words sank in. The alien eyed him with a look of regret as his human disguise slowly dissipated, showing his true form.

"We need to live on," Jin'lar said as he looked at the Doctor in desperation. The Iturian despised Time Lords, every last one of them, but somehow, this man was different.

"And you will. Oh, you _will_! Your race lives on, Jin'lar, and I can take you to them. Your people, some of them survived, and they found a new planet. You are stranded away from home, but I can help you. This is not the way. _Definitely_ not."

As he said that, Rose suddenly opened her eyes and blinked in confusion. His eyes immediately fell towards her and soon he locked his gaze with hers. He finally released the breath he didn't even know he had been holding and then smiled widely at her, but before he managed to say a word, the alien spoke up.

"Why should I trust the likes of you, Time Lord!" the Iturian exclaimed, half-desperate, half-angry.

"Doctor? What's goin' on?" Rose uttered as she propped herself up on her elbows, carefully supported by the Doctor's arm around her shoulder. He should've let go, he really should have, but he couldn't bring himself to. They were still in of danger. And, weeell, letting go of her may have somehow seemed _unpleasant_, but that was a different story entirely.

She looked up at him and he silently begged her not to look away, but she did, and seconds later she noticed her surroundings, finally resting her eyes on the Iturian. Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open, and the Doctor half expected her to scream in shock or fear, but much to his surprise, she didn't.

"What-what is _that_? Blimey, have I hit my head or what?" she gasped and he had to stifle a chuckle as he forced his eyes away from Rose and onto Jin'lar.

"Why should you trust me? Weeell, that's a good question, very good! But I will tell you why: because I lost everything. I ended the Time War. I tried to save your planet-I tried to save _so many_- but I... I couldn't. Not all of them. Not yours." he paused, looking the alien straight in the eyes. "And I'm so, so sorry. Allow me to help you. I know where your people are, we could... We could get there. I have a ship, my, err, my spaceship, a rather _brilliant_ one at that! Just let go of the prisoners and leave this planet, because it is _defended_. And I will not let any human being suffer, Jin'lar. I _won't_."

As the Doctor's eyes remained fixed on the Iturian, Rose struggled to stand up. He jumped up to his feet and helped her, keeping his arm firmly planted across her shoulder to keep her steady. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her look around in fear, and although he squeezed her arm in a reassuring gesture, it was not the right time to do more than that. He kept his attention solely on Jin'lar.

"As if _you_ have a say in that, Time Lord! You save the humans, but you didn't save my people! We live on, you say, we _live on_! What about the millions that perished in the Time War?" Jin'lar exclaimed in anger, pacing back and forth in front of the cauldron.

"Doctor," he heard Rose whisper in a tone of urgency, but his gaze remained on Jin'lar.

"Don't you think I would have saved my own people if I could? Don't you think I would have saved them _all_? I had no choice!" his voice grew desperate as he shouted. Memories flooded his mind like so many times before, nearly overpowering him with the pain they caused him. Living with the blood of millions on his hands was so difficult, so very hard, and it was a burden he had to carry all on his own ever since the Time War.

He wished he could have saved them. He would gladly give up his own life a thousand times over to save even one of the souls that were lost in the War. But he couldn't. He couldn't turn back time, not on this, not ever.

"Doctor, look at the-"

Rose tried to warn him, but it was too late. The cauldron from which the red liquid was being pumped started shaking violently as pieces of shrapnel began falling from the ceiling of the cavern. An earthquake, an eruption, _something _shook the whole area, and the consequences could be disastrous for all of them.

His arm around Rose immediately tightened its grip as his eyes traveled towards the five trapped Vitex workers. Thousands of possibilities ran through his head, calculations, all sorts of different options, but he failed to anticipate what was about to happen.

Jin'lar, upon seeing the disaster, grew even more desperate. In his anger, he shouted, "You are right, Time Lord. I will spare the humans, for they do not deserve the fate my people were given!"

He pressed a button on his remote as he said that, and the five humans were seemingly teleported out of their glass cages, leaving only the Doctor and Rose. Both of them breathed a sigh of relief, but the alien used their distraction against them.

"But you-" he cried, "You will go down with me, if it's the last thing I do! To avenge my planet!"

Before the Doctor was given a moment to register it, Jin'lar spawned a ball of fire in his palm and launched it towards the Time Lord, which left the Doctor with next to no time to react.

"No!" Rose screamed as she pushed him down to the ground with all of her remaining strength, bringing the two of them to down, with her fall being less painful as she landed, wellll, _on top_ of him.

_Oh._

His eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up as he looked right at her, but their gaze was quickly broken by yet another turn of events. The ball of fire which was aimed at him hit a wall, starting a chain reaction which combined with the shaking increased the amount of shrapnel falling from the ceiling of the cavern by tenfold. Both of them turned their eyes to Jin'lar upon hearing him scream out in agony, and the Doctor's hearts clenched when he saw that the Iturian had been crushed to death by a large boulder.

Yet another needless loss of life. The fact that Jin'lar tried to kill him did not mean that the Doctor would have wanted this, no, he hoped to save the Iturian and take him home to his people, but it was not meant to be. The alien was undoubtedly dead - not many species could sustain such weight, definitely not one of that race. Regardless of this, Rose was still in danger, so the Doctor forced himself back into action. He _had_ to save her.

He wriggled himself out from under her weight (perhaps _a little_ reluctantly. Just a bit, not very, just a _tad. _Yup.), he jumped to his feet and helped Rose up, then grabbed her hand tightly. And again, he felt that odd sensation, almost like fire scorching not his skin, but warming him up from the inside. What was it? What did it mean?

_No, no time for that_. They had to go.

"Run!" he shouted, pulling at her hand.

She nodded at him very briefly and followed him as the pieces of rock falling from the ceiling missed their exposed bodies by mere inches. They had to get to the TARDIS and they had to hurry, even though he could tell that she was struggling to keep up, undoubtedly exhausted by the heat and the whole experience, but they had to keep moving. His ship wasn't all too far.

After slaloming for what felt like far too long, he finally spotted the TARDIS in the distance.

"What is that?!" Rose shouted behind him, panting in her extortion.

"My ship! My TARDIS! Go on! Keep running, Rose!"

"We're just gonna die in there, Doctor! Where on earth is the way out of this place?!" she demanded as they reached his ship.

"Oh, I dare say we're going to be just fine," he said as he unlocked the door to the TARDIS, "Yup! Brilliant, even! You see, I work best when I don't have a plan. Although, this one _may_ have been more thanks to you, but-"

He casually strode inside his ship with her following suit, and only as he heard a small gasp did he realize that she had never been inside the TARDIS before. For some reason, he felt as if he'd known her for a much, much longer amount of time, and he felt as if she... As if she belonged there, with him, up in the stars.

At that moment, he already knew. He knew that he would ask her. Did he ever really have a choice?

And she as good as saved his life, mere moments ago. She, a human girl who didn't believe a single word he said until the truth behind them was forced upon her in this manner. She who could have died if they didn't make it back to his ship safely, or rather if she didn't save him first.

_Rose_.

He turned around and observed her in silence. He knew enough about humans to know that she would need a moment, that it would take her a minute to compose her thoughts, to ask him a question or two. In the meantime, she stood at the entrance to the TARDIS, the door now safely closed behind her, and he could almost feel the heat radiating from her body as she looked left and right in complete shock.

"Are you alright?" he broke the silence as he eyed her with concern.

"It's bigger on the inside," she muttered in disbelief, ignoring his question.

"Weeell, yes. You might say that," he grinned, but his grin mostly served to conceal his worry for her. He wanted to run to her - to hold her, to make sure she would be fine - but it did not feel right, and he didn't think she would have wanted it. No matter his own impressions, for human standards they were still a pair of strangers bound together by, err, _unusual_ circumstances.

"You said you lived in a box," Rose said blankly as she finally forced her gaze to focus on him.

"Yup. This is where I live."

"_Here_? I mean, underground? How did we even get here? I can't remember anything..." she said as she brought her hands to her head, rubbing her temples in confusion.

Slowly, carefully, he finally decided to approach her. He had to ease her into it, but most of all, he had to make sure that she did not suffer any serious damage. He stopped two steps away from her and observed her intently, but she did not look back at him. Her eyes drifted down to the ground, and moments later, she closed them.

"No. Not _here_. Err, my ship, it can... Travel. Through time-"

"And space?"

"And space."

Silence fell for a moment as his words sank in. She swayed slightly, but steadied herself without his help.

"You're not human," she stated, repeating what he had already told her before.

"No."

"Oh."

Silence.

"Is that alright?" he finally asked anxiously.

Why did his hearts skip a beat as he awaited her answer with baited breath? Why did it matter? _Why_ did he care?

He didn't know why. He only knew that he did, in fact, care. A whole lot more than he deemed appropriate.

"Yeah," she answered after a whole minute, finally looking up to meet his gaze. "Yeah, it's... It's..."

The Doctor bore his eyes into hers as awaited the end of that sentence, but it never came. Rose's eyes fell shut and she lost her balance, nearly falling down onto the grated floor of his ship. Nearly, because he caught her just in time. His fingers briefly brushed her forehead. It was burning hot.

And that was when he realized that he truly had no time to lose. She saved him just minutes ago, and although he couldn't save Jin'lar, he _would_ save Rose. He certainly would save Rose.

**~oOo~**

He regarded her sleeping face in silence, knowing that it probably wasn't the right thing to do. The right thing to do would be to leave the TARDIS to monitor her and to leave the infirmary; that way, he would be certain that she wouldn't feel scared or even angry at seeing him there when she woke up. But he couldn't bring himself to go, so he remained, watching over her as she slept.

She was stable; Jin'lar didn't have enough time to cause her any real damage. He also checked on the five Vitex employees and found that they were all fine and had no memory of what had transpired. He talked them into taking the day off by babbling on and on about the flu, the viruses and how it is very, very unsafe to be walking about when possibly being contagious, because no one wants to catch the flu, now do they? Not to mention that the common flu once destroyed a whole empire, it did! Not on Earth, mind you, but-

Yup. He stopped there, because the looks they gave him were borderline terrified. So, he managed that all fine. Nobody knew anything.

Would Rose remember anything?

Would she remember the look they shared as the sky started falling down? Did she feel it too, that strange sensation when he held her hand as they ran?

He shook his head. That didn't matter. She just had to wake up.

Two hours passed before she finally stirred. He held his breath as her eyes fluttered open, not for the first time finding himself quite dazed in her presence.

To be fair, Rose _was_ rather, err, lovely. Not that it concerned him in any way, just-

"Doctor?"

Rose broke his inner musings, bringing him back to reality. Her eyes wide open, she looked at him as intently as she could given her groggy state.

"Good morning! Or weeell, evening. Or afternoon. Up to you. It's a tad relative, you see."

"Where are we?" She first propped herself up on her elbows and then finally sat up properly on the cot in the infirmary. Her eyes drifted from one object to another, taking it all in, before refocusing her gaze on him.

"We're on the TARDIS. My, err, my _box_," he clarified needlessly.

"Looks like some sort of a, I dunno, hospital?" She scrunched her nose as she surveyed the area. "Are you alright?"

He chuckled, but deep down inside, he felt strangely soothed by the knowledge that she even cared to ask.

"Yup. Brilliant! But you, Rose Tyler, you sort of _passed out_. For a while. Nothing major, a little overheating. Weak human constitution, you lot can't handle heat, not as well as a Time Lord! But now, two hours under the temperature adjusters and you are all better."

"And Marge and them...?"

"All fine. Told them to take the day off. They don't remember anything, so it's probably best if-"

"Oh, I won't be telling anyone, that's for sure. They'd all think I'm completely bonkers, just like you. I'd get tossed into the loony bin, I would," she grumbled which made him grin very widely. She remembered everything, then.

Wait, was that a good thing or a bad thing? It _could_ be pretty bad. Or-

"So you weren't just saying things, then?"

The Doctor frowned as he looked at her in confusion. What was she talking about?

"I mean, you weren't just making it up, were you? All the... Time Lords and things, that stuff."

"Oh. No, no I wasn't."

"What were you doin' working for my dad, then? Bit odd, that."

He thought for a moment and then said in a forlorn voice, "I knew that something was about to happen, but I didn't come back in time to stop it. I'm sorry. It's my fault that you were in danger."

Her expression softened considerably as a small smile appeared on her face.

"'s not. I mean, you're _completely_ mad alright, but you're not _bad_. Don't beat yourself up, Doctor. 'sides, I'm okay, yeah?"

"Of course. More than _okay_, in fact you're rather lovel-err, no, I mean, yes, _definitely_! Very okay, yup." He started tugging on his ear awkwardly as he averted her stare, then he remembered about a herbal medicine from a planet he recently visited. He thought it'd be best if Rose drank some of it to lower her temperature completely back to normal, so he took a bottle of it from the shelf and poured some of the sticky liquid onto a tablespoon.

"What's that?" she asked with a small frown.

"Something to lower your temperature. Bit too high, that, so I thought..." he trailed off, stuck between handing her the spoon and just feeding it to her. Wait. That would be a bit, weeell, _weird_, wouldn't it? Yes. Definitely. He gave it to her as if it was on fire and cleared his throat as she eyed the liquid suspiciously.

"Is it safe?"

"Of course it is! Rose, who do you take me for?" he exclaimed in indignation.

"Someone who's completely bonkers, that's who. Wouldn't be surprised if you mixed up the bottles and gave me, I dunno, bleach?" she mumbled, "I can trust you though, yeah?"

Her eyes bore into his and although he may have been wrong, he thought that there _may_ have been more to the question than she initially let on. That maybe it wasn't only about the herbal medicine from the twin planet of Raxacoricofallapatorious, Clom. That maybe he wasn't a _complete_ stranger to her, not anymore.

"What d'you think?" he answered with a question. He enjoyed the warmth in her eyes, a glimmer of trust or so he liked to think, and as he looked at her then, he wanted to get to know her better. Only one way to do that, he thought.

"I think I can," she said with a smile and gulped down the medicine. "Blimey! It's disgusting, that stuff!"

He laughed out loud at her expression, already dreading the moment he'd have to let her go.

Unless...

* * *

He hated it, but he knew he'd have to take her home. He delayed the moment of asking her in his fear of rejection. It was odd, really. Ever since the war, he... He was on his own, and slowly, he began to think that maybe that's how it's meant to be. A punishment for his crimes, if you will. But then he met Rose Tyler, and his opinion rapidly changed.

Upon her request, he took her to a nice, green, lush area near her home. She said she could use a little walk. It was a cloudless, starry night, and as they stepped out of the TARDIS, she looked around in disbelief.

"It worked," she mumbled as a brilliant, genuine smile lit up her whole countenance.

He could almost feel life seep into his tired mind as he observed her, so young and so very lovely, so human, so brave, so curious, so kind.

They were atop a small hill. She stood, looking all around until she threw her head back and turned her eyes towards the stars. He walked over to her, pretending to look in the same general direction, but his eyes never left her face; she seemed to be so full of wonder, and to see that wonder through her was something he so badly wanted to do again.

If he could see the universe through _her _eyes - if he could just be around her - would it be so wrong? He didn't deserve it, surely not. This lonely life was his punishment, a price he had to pay, a debt that was meant to last until the end of his days.

But was he _completely_ unworthy of her? Or rather, if he could keep her safe, if he could spend every waking moment trying to conjure that look of pure delight that seemed to make her shine like a thousand suns, if he spent every single day trying to make her happy, would he become the least bit deserving of her company?

Maybe.

He hoped so.

"Rose..." he began, his hearts all the way up in his throat. He felt anxious like a teenage human, and it was very, very undignified and he should be ashamed.

He wasn't. Not really.

"So you've been to them, then?" she interrupted him with a small smile as she tilted her chin towards the midnight blue sky, indicating the stars.

He released his hitched breath and responded, "Yup. A whole lot of them."

"Is this what you do? Just, y'know, travel around and the like?"

"Weeell, yes. For the most part. Apart from when I get stuck somewhere, like I did recently. Odd story, that! I went to this, err, planet that was under attack, and-"

"You're not coming back to Vitex, are you?" she cut him off again. He noted the change in her countenance; her face fell and he could only wonder about the cause.

"Not very likely. You see, I-" he trailed off, pondering what to say, how much to tell her. "I never really _stay_. I don't... I don't like it. Not much."

She sighed. She turned her eyes towards him and said, "I envy you, really. I've got my whole future planned out for me, yeah? I didn't get anywhere in life, and I'm jus' gonna be stuck at Vitex. My dad loves this company, he does, but I just sort of... Wanted something of my own? Y'know?" He nodded. "Well. Not happening."

"You see, that's the brilliant thing about you lot," he said as he slipped his hands into his pockets and forced his gaze away from her, onto the sky. "You've got all those possibilities. Options. Dreams! Oh, you humans have so many dreams, don't you? And they _may_ come true. That's the best part."

"I haven't got any, not really. I don't know what to do with myself," she admitted sadly.

His hearts sank. He barely knew her, yet he felt as if he knew her so well, and if there was one thing in the universe that he wanted, just _one_, it was to get to know her better.

"You could come with me," he finally blurted out. He felt his cheeks heat up slightly and he cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck in an awkward gesture as he looked at her, awaiting her reaction.

Rose's eyes widened and for a moment there, he thought that she'd say no. A feeling of dread ran down his spine as he silently begged her not to decline his offer.

Why it mattered so much, he couldn't say, but it _did_.

"You're kidding?" she managed to ask, chuckling softly in disbelief.

"Err, no. No. No! Of course not. I-I want you to. If you like."

Blimey, the whole ordeal went and got the best of him, but so be it. He wanted Rose Tyler onboard. To be his light in the dark. To show her the wonders of the universe, one after one, every single day, because he knew for a fact that she deserved it.

"Is it always this dangerous?"

"Yup."

"But you'd... You'd bring me to all those places, yeah? Different planets and... You really _would_."

"If you'd let me," he said softly.

His eyes bore into hers with a strange intensity. The air was filled with that spark he'd felt before, a strange force pulling the two of them together, something intangible and yet very, very real. He had to hold himself back from bringing his hands to her temples in order to attempt to see what she was truly thinking. Of course, he'd never do it against her will, but the suspense was killing him, and to be forced to regenerate due to suspense would be, weeell, rather _silly_. Yup.

Her eyes held a thousand questions and equally many answers, and if only he could, he'd dive straight into them to explore them all. She was unlike any other. He barely knew her, but that much he knew for certain.

_Rose Tyler._

The Doctor spotted a shift in the way she looked at him. Her expression, previously uncertain, changed into a look of determination and... And...

Happiness? Was that the word?

It was amusing how that day was a day for lost things being found. He found Rose, he found the missing employees of Vitex, but strangely enough, he also found a brand new will to live, unlike anything he had ever felt since before the war.

It was rather _brilliant_.

And then, with just eight words, she spun his entire world around without as much as making an effort, marking a beginning to something entirely new. A new chapter where the pages would be filled with her presence; a breath of life in a world that he grew to believe was forever doomed to be void of it.

"Alright then, Doctor. Take me to the stars."

* * *

**A/N: **I'm sooo sorry for taking forever to update, and that the chapter was so long. And for the adventure-y bits. I'll be focusing more on fluff from now on, since I love fluff. :p And there'll be no more gigantic delays between chapters. This one was difficult to write somehow, writing adventure and action is definitely not my forte. I hope it wasn't too bad. Did you enjoy the Doctor's PoV? Would you like me to alternate them or just stick to Rose?

Also, big thank you to Bria for all her help! ^_^ Thank you all for reading this, and please do let me know what you thought of it :) Happy New Year to you all! Stay brilliant!


	5. A New Life

_"Is it always this dangerous?"_

_"Yup."_

_"But you'd... You'd bring me to all those places, yeah? Different planets and... You really would."_

_"If you'd let me," he said softly._

_"Alright then, Doctor. Take me to the stars."_

* * *

That first day, he took her to a different planet. A whole new planet in a galaxy that was still unknown to human scientists due to being too distant in relation to the Earth. An entire new _world_ at the palm of her hand.

Everything, every - little - tiny - thing completely blew her mind. No, really, it _did_. For starters, it was the most gorgeous place anyone could have ever dreamt of. The skies weren't blue or gray or anything of the sort, they had this warm shade of pink that sometimes dipped into peach, and the neighboring planets were so close that they took up a large portion of the sky, but did not interfere with the light and warmth brought on by the planet's twin suns. A pleasant breeze swayed the trees which were equal in height to skyscrapers back on Earth. They had blue leaves and were planted very far apart, granting shade but not crowding the area, leaving ample room to walk around in. Underneath them were all sorts of dirt roads, market stalls and wells filled with icy blue water, and up in those trees were hidden strange little huts, presumably wooden, which the Doctor told her were the homes of the working class on the planet, explaining that the royalty lived further up the hills where it wasn't quite this warm.

And it was _alien_. The people that lived there, they weren't strictly _people_. They were odd and short and blue skinned, and most of them had a pet of some sort. Looked like a dog, except it didn't have a nose. No, really, their dogs didn't have noses. They were still furry and came in all shapes and sizes, they just didn't have noses. Rose couldn't stop laughing at the fuzzy little creatures, and the Doctor kept telling her to be quiet or she might offend them, which only made her giggle all the more.

All these alien people, they just walked around with their little companions, smiling like anything, and Rose couldn't help but stare. Oh, and the planet was called Barcelona. Like the city, except it was not, it was a part of the Tanduris system and had nothing to do with Earth, 's exactly what the Doctor told her.

The Doctor seemed to enjoy the trip just as much as she did. Well, she had a bit of a culture shock, she had to admit. Twenty hours earlier, she didn't believe in the existence of aliens, at least not aliens she'd ever get to see, and now she was in a different corner of the universe, surrounded by these short blue beings who were seemingly filled with glee and had dogs with no noses and lived up in tree huts. Oh, and the man she went there with, he was alien too, even if he didn't look it.

And she had the most wonderful day with him, she did.

Barely knew him, that's right. And he did most of the talking. He told her about the planet, answered her curious questions one after another, talked her into trying some local delicacy which she thought was completely disgusting, poked fun at nearly all of her reactions and walked by her side wherever they went. Close, but not close enough to touch. They also ran into trouble, found that one of the local gangs was stealing those funny dogs with no noses which were apparently very intelligent and capable of working, so yeah, they were stealing them and the two of them put an end to it and everything. The Doctor told her that trouble was pretty much _part of the job_, and Rose, instead of feeling scared, found herself completely fascinated.

She was absolutely knackered by the time they made their way back to the ship, but she didn't think she could get any sleep, not after everything that had transpired during the day. Was she even the same Rose that she was just a month ago, before she first met the Doctor? She didn't think so. And that was... That was really rather wonderful, wasn't it? Yeah, it was. For the first twenty-one years of her life, nothing ever happened. Her life was largely unsatisfying and she was desperate for... For _something else_, and the Doctor was something else alright, he was something entirely different from anything she'd ever known.

She lingered in the console room, unsure of what to do with herself. Stay and chat with him for a bit? Well, she'd certainly _like_ to. She was under the impression that the Doctor and his TARDIS had a fair bit in common; both full of mysteries and so much bigger on the inside, and she'd love to explore those mysteries a little bit better.

She was surprised with how little she knew him, how at the end of the day they were still complete strangers, when being around him just felt _right_. How they sort of complimented each other; when they ran from the villainous gang who stole those funny dogs it was as if their bodies were in sync, one assisting the other without any thought. Of course, that conclusion only made her angry at herself, but she remained composed despite all the brewing emotions.

So yeah, she lingered, and the silence between them was filled with memories of shared laughter and this odd kind of electricity that she couldn't quite make sense of. Finally, she exhaled and leaned against this railing of sorts, stretched her arms and rested her eyes on his unmoving figure. He was wearing his usual blue pinstriped suit, bar the coat which was now carelessly tossed somewhere. His hair was even more messy than just hours back, and although reluctantly, Rose had to admit that it suited him. He leaned against the console, arms crossed at the chest, and bore his eyes into hers. A slow smile sprawled across his face when he caught her looking back and she couldn't help but respond in the same manner.

"That was brilliant, Doctor," she said with a content sigh, "I mean, all that stuff. It was mental, but it was amazing. It really was."

He made a satisfied sound at the back of his throat as he responded, "Good. I mean, that's good! Very good. Brilliant. So, does that mean that you- weeell, that you want to... Stay?"

"D'you want me to?" she asked uncertainly. Heat pooled up in her cheeks, but she disregarded it.

"Of course I do. Still plenty for us to see, Rose Tyler! Planets, creatures and horizons, all of it within our reach."

"But you've been to them, haven't you? All those planets and... And everything."

"Some, not all. Could never see them all. Even Time Lords don't live that long, and I lead a rather, err, _dangerous_ sort of life. More fun that way!"

"Hold on, so you're _really_ like what was it, nine hundred years old?"

"Nine hundred and three. I checked, since you asked."

She shook her head and rolled her eyes with a chuckle. Talk about an age gap. Add that to the list of reasons why she _shouldn't _find him interesting in that sense...

When she didn't say anything for a moment, lost in her thoughts, he broke the silence with a look of giddy excitement on his face.

"So! Where are we going next? I chose our first destination, and now, Rose Tyler, it's your turn to pick! Past? Future? Present? Another planet! Ooh, I know, let's go to Banana World! Oh, yes, Banana World! A planet of bananas. Banana cars, furniture, costumes, everything! Bananas are good, Rose. Great source of potassium, those yellow little things. Or we could go see the destruction of the Earth. That's always fun! Or-"

"Fun?" she interrupted him with a chuckle. "Is that your idea of fun, then? Watching the Earth get blown to bits?"

"_History_ is fun to me." He cocked his brow at her and grinned. "Everything that has ever happened and ever will, the bigger the better!"

"But it _hasn't_ happened yet, Doctor, and I don't mean to spoil your fun, but I'm pretty happy about that," she said with a hint of amusement in her tone.

"Oh, it has! And it hasn't. See, that's time travel for you! It's all a little... Wibbly wobbly, timey-wimey."

Rose shook her head then went on to brush a loose strand of hair away from her eyes. It didn't make any sense, but strangely enough, she was willing to believe it. Oh, she'd believe anything after today, that's for sure.

"So? Where are we going next!" he exclaimed more than he asked, turning towards the consoles, flipping switches theatrically, looking like a little boy who was just about to open his presents on Christmas morning. It was really quite endearing and she was just about to answer him with a suggestion. Maybe they should go back in time on Earth or something? If that odd machine of his really did work that way. They could go, say, a thousand years into the past. Wonder what it'd all look like back then in London? 'course she knew bits and pieces from her history lessons, but how did it all _really_ work? Would her parents be there, everyone just sort of transported back in time, or...

Then, she gasped as she remembered something she had, although she shouldn't have, forgotten.

"Oh, my god! _My parents_!"

The Doctor turned towards her with a frown, stopping all his button pressing and switch flipping for a moment.

"I ought to tell them! I mean, not about _this_," she said as she gestured around the TARDIS, "But about goin' traveling. I mean, what're they going to think if I go missing? They're going to be so worried! I really shouldn't have-"

He frowned at her and said, "Why?"

Simple question, really, but so out of place. _Why_? For a thousand different reasons, Doctor. But then again, he didn't seem to be the kind of person to say he was leaving, she thought as she remembered the better part of the three weeks that she spent searching for him.

"Well, I can't just go missing on them, can I? I just don't know what to tell them, not really..."

"Rose, this is a _time machine_. We could go to the far end of the universe and back, we could watch the Big Bang and the very last star going out - I've seen that, it was actually rather _lonely_. And cold. And very space-y. Lots and lots of space, Rose! The universe just sort of expands, you see, it's brilliant! Worth a revisit with a companion! Aaaanyway, my point is, we could travel together for, I don't know, a year?" he paused at that, looking at her intently. "And you could still come back on that very same day. Time machine, you see!"

Rose found that she lost track of his little speech about halfway through, annoyingly distracted with looking at his face. So expressive, really, it was almost entrancing, the way he quirked his brows, the way his tongue slipped out of the corner of his mouth in this-this _thoughtful_ way, the way his fingers absentmindedly flipped all sorts of switches on the console during his speech, the way he grinned when he mentioned a time machine... Oh, right, time machine. Not falling for that one.

"Doctor, I'm not saying I don't _believe_ in the whole time machine thing, alright? I mean, after today, I'll believe anything, yeah? But even so, you were gone for _three weeks _and none of us knew where you were! I mean, I thought something had happened to you!"

She didn't mean to put this much emotion into the sentence, but when she took note of the way she raised her voice at the last few words, a blush crept up over her face. The last thing she'd want was for him to think that she cared about him in any special way. Sure, they could be friends if the circumstances allowed it. Sure, he was the most interesting thing to ever happen to her in her entire life. All the more reason for her _not_ to let him in on the secret that he was, in fact, quite attractive. _To her_.

He crinkled his nose in a frown. Rose couldn't tell if it was a sign of concern, annoyance or a mix of the two, but before she made up her mind on the subject, he smiled at her again as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Oh, that. No, no, it doesn't happen too often! I promise I will get you back to your original timeline. Ooh, I know! You could even input the coordinates yourself!" He gestured at one of the screens. "Look! Right here!"

She walked over to him, making sure that she stood a considerable distance away as to not end up touching him, and looked at the screen. She didn't know what she expected, but certainly not that. It was all strange circles, one inside the other, some sort of lines, some kind of a strange drawing that she couldn't make sense of.

"What's that?"

"Don't you see? It's- oh, err, you don't see English, do you?"

She shook her head. "Nope."

"Right. That's Gallifreyan. The TARDIS translates every language except this one. Weeell, in theory she could translate this one too, but-"

"Gallifreyan," she repeated after him, finally looking up to try to see his expression. It was as if he was trying to hide something, hiding a hint of pain behind this aloof exterior of his, and no matter how annoying he was, she wanted to know. And oddly enough, to try and make it better. "That's where you said you were from, isn't it? Gallifrey."

He averted her gaze, his entire focus down on the consoles, suddenly appearing very busy as he said, "Yup."

"But it's not in Ireland," she stated, trying to lighten the mood a bit. It worked; his lips stretched in a small smile, as if whatever evil spell he had previously been under had been broken.

"Nope. No, definitely not in Ireland."

She wanted to ask if they could go see it, if they could see his home planet, but something in his eyes made her hold back. Besides, she still wasn't sure if he'd even agree to bring her anywhere else after the delay of telling her parents. And how that would even go...

Her shoulders slumped with a sigh as the Doctor grinned slightly and reached into the pocket of his trousers to produce his sonic screwdriver. He pointed it at the screen and after a short buzz, the circles were replaced with English. She cocked a brow at him, awaiting an explanation. Mind you, it was all science and things and Rose was always more into gymnastics than she was into science and maths, but at least this was written in her language.

"But you said..."

"Just temporary, mind you! But now, you'll be able to make sure that you get back home in time. See? These little buttons right here." Before she had a chance to react, he took hold of her wrist, sending a shiver down her spine as he pulled her hand towards different parts of the console, showing her how to work the machine. She struggled to remember the sequence, pressing buttons and pulling switches after him, all the while knowing that it was all in vain. The close contact distracted her - that spark of electricity that never quite dissipated, it only got worse when he touched her; something she was well aware of but still refused to truly acknowledge. Instead of reacting to it, she watched in silence as their joined hands traveled across the machinery.

When he was done, his fingers lingered, very still and strangely firm around her wrist. Seconds passed and he finally let go, and now it was time for her to struggle to convince herself that his skin against hers had no effect on her whatsoever. It was tiny, insignificant, perfectly proper (if slightly odd) and she was just being daft. Exactly.

"Just like that," he muttered in a voice barely above a whisper. He then gestured at a lever and informed, "Then, you pull that lever. Aaand we're done!"

She studied him for a moment, then pulled away and nodded at him. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him look at his own hand as if he was in a trance, then swallow thickly and finally, after a short delay, clear his throat and grin at her.

"So, what do you say, Rose Tyler? One trip, just one more! And then, we get you back home in time, you tell your parents and theeeen," he paused, flipping a switch on the consoles in a theatrical sort of way as he regarded her excitedly, "And then, we're off to the stars. For good. That is, err, if you like."

_For good_.

For a moment there, they just regarded one another in complete silence. Rose's eyes locked on to his and in them, she saw a promise of a future she never could have imagined, and that made her stand by and watch idly as her steel will crumbled under all the wondrous things traveling with the Doctor could bring.

"Fine. One more trip. But you better make sure we're back in the right time."

"Of course! Absolutely! So, any preferences? Where do you want to go?"

"Surprise me."

He beamed at her, told her to hold on tight and pulled the lever, sending the ship flying in an erratic pattern, spiraling, pirouetting and just throwing them all around the place. She fell to the ground, terrified in the most exciting of ways, and when all the shaking had finally ceased, he helped her up and wordlessly gestured at the door.

He didn't need to tell her twice. Every step she took filled her with a thrill unlike any she had ever known before she met him. She looked over her shoulder, finding the Doctor smiling at her mysteriously. On their first trip together, he took her to Barcelona. What did he prepare for her this time? With baited breath, she swung the blue door wide open and peered outside.

What she saw before her eyes then, everything, every little bit of it, it just completely overpowered her. She gasped in delight and rushed outside, all remains of hesitation forever purged from her mind.

**~oOo~**

The next days - yes, _days_ - are filled with laughter, conversation, sparkling eyes, little smiles and all sorts of adventures. One trip turns to two and that soon becomes five, and soon enough they only mention it as they run from one place to the next; a passing thought, a reminder, but not a definite _let's go home_.

Rose's head was up in the clouds. It was all like a fairytale that she just so happened to end up in. Like she was Alice in Wonderland, not only falling through the rabbit hole, but jumping into it head first and laughing all the way down. It was intoxicating. He took her to the future, he took her to the past, he took her to different planets and just... Yeah. It shouldn't even be possible, but it _still _happened. She stopped doubting it and embraced the fact that her life was completely mental, and strangely enough, she could find nothing wrong with that. Her future at Vitex, her job back on Earth, watching the telly in the evening before calling it a night, Saturday afternoon shopping with Shareen, it all melted away and as she ran along with the Doctor, she felt that she found a better life. A life filled with adventure and mystery and most of all, a _useful_ life, because they still haven't managed to land in a place where their help wouldn't be needed. Rose didn't know if it was the Doctor's intention to continuously send them into trouble, but the same thing seemed to happen when she chose the destination, so maybe it really _was _part of the job.

They took turns. She'd choose, then he'd choose, then it would be her turn again and in the time she spent with him, she had seen more than she could ever think possible. At the end of the day, as they made their way back to the time ship, she stumbled behind him in her exhaustion, finding herself in a constant state of complete amazement.

He made the TARDIS display the time for her, human hours and human days, because she told him she felt lost without being able to keep track of the passing time. He smiled at her then and started boasting about how _he_ never lost track of it for a second, how it flowed in his veins, and she asked him if that was why he burnt their tea on a regular basis. The look on his face was frankly quite priceless.

She started to enjoy teasing him you see, carefully at first but more openly as days went by, especially when she picked up on the fact that he rarely ever took her words to heart and often contributed to their banter, as if he didn't want it to end. She was less guarded with him as days went on, and although her (very annoying) attraction to him didn't cease, she was able to keep it at bay and enjoy his presence for what it was. The Doctor was quickly becoming her friend, and even though she barely knew him, she just felt _right_ around him. It was weird really, but there it was. A fact.

He had a darker side to him, that much she quickly noticed; there'd be times when he would just zone out, stand in the doorway of the TARDIS as it was floating in the Time Vortex (see, Rose picked up on all that stuff after a few days!), look straight ahead and not pay her much mind. She gave him the space she sensed that he needed and went back to what they both now referred to as _her room_, doing all sorts of things until he sought her out and swept her away on another adventure.

Those quiet moments became rarer as her time with him hit the two week mark. Two weeks without visiting home, scarcely getting any rest, seeing him from day to night and then some hours into the night too, it left her with no room to think. He barely slept or so she thought, and as a result she didn't sleep much either, although the bed he had prepared for her was possibly the most blissful thing in all of creation, all big and blue and soft and cozy.

So yeah, he babbled on about things endlessly and she teased him and his eyes just-just _lit up_ when she did, so she didn't stop. And he was a stranger, but then again, in some ways he was not.

Two weeks of _one more trip_ might have turned to three months, even though she missed her mum and dad a great deal. They _might_ have done, if not for the fact that she allowed the Doctor to tinker with her mobile phone (she found that he loved to tinker with things, which was often rather dangerous), and the moment he was done, a sharp ringing drilled its' way into their heads.

Rose's eyes widened in shock as she took a look outside the ship. They were floating among the stars, parked after a visit back to the age of dinosaurs, which was mind boggling and amazing and _yeah_, _she_ _did_ _like it_. So, stars, dinosaurs and things, how could her phone be ringing?

She picked up only to hear her mum's voice on the other end, rapidly pulling her away from this dream and back to reality.

_"Rose? I've been tryin' to call you all evening, I did! Where're you, sweetheart? Dinner's ready in twenty minutes and you're still not here! You're done with work, aren't you? Rose? Rose, can you hear me? Oh, this blasted old thing must be acting up again! Your father's promised me a new one, but he never has the time to go shopping with me, does he? Always busy with his drinks. 's alright, though. He loves that company, he does. You really should just start working there, darling. 'course you'll probably want to stop working if you get married one day, but even so. You'll have kids of your own to raise. Lord knows it wasn't easy to work when you were little! Crying for mummy, you were, you poor thing."_

Rose just stood there, mouth wide open, staring at the Doctor in shock. It really was her mum on the other end, calling her about dinners and marriage and Vitex when she, Rose, had only just come back from a trip to see the flippin' _dinosaurs_.

The Doctor had an ambiguous expression on his face, his features considerably less cheerful as he regarded her while she listened to her mum prattle on about nothing without a word of response from her. She finally forced herself to stop daydreaming and cut Jackie's monologue short.

"Mum! I'm here, okay? 's alright, your phone's fine. And I'm... I'm fine, too. How's things? Is everything alright?"

_"Oh, why didn't you say so! And how d'you mean if everything's alright? Why wouldn't it be? I just saw you this morning! Go on, are you coming home? Even your good old dad's already here, Rose!"_

"Um, yeah. Yeah, I'll be there." Rose swallowed thickly. It was meant to be just one trip that turned to twenty, but it seemed as though for her mum, only a few hours had passed since she left. Now she'd just have to make sure that the Doctor actually _landed_ the machine in the right time, then she'd have to make up some excuse to her parents, and then they could be off, back on their adventures. It was much too late for her to even consider giving it up, she was too far gone.

She murmured her "be right there, Mum" into the handset and hung up the phone, then looked at the Doctor, in vain trying to get him to look back at her.

Rose definitely wouldn't go as far as to say that she knew the Doctor well. No, he was still a mystery to her; she knew just as much as she did on that first day, stepping inside this blue box with him and letting him take her to the stars. But they did share a lot of very intense moments in the past two weeks, moments filled with laughter, wonder, stolen looks that she'd never admit to, sparks of electricity when he'd grab her hand... Casual touch, nothing more than what was absolutely necessary, but it lingered on her mind and tingled her skin long after he let go of her once they were safely out of danger.

She thought about him a great deal more than she really ought to, not to mention that she spent every waking hour with him, so it wasn't strange to her that she picked up on how crestfallen he seemed right then, when she hung up the phone.

"Our _one trip_ lasted a tad longer than we thought, yeah?" she said jokingly, once again hoping to lighten the mood. He didn't respond; instead, he walked over to the consoles and motioned for her to come with him.

"I always keep my promises, Rose Tyler," he said in a forced tone that was probably intended to appear energetic. "Go on, type in the coordinates and you'll go right back home. London, England, planet Earth!"

"What's wrong, then?" she asked, ignoring the buttons and screens and switches.

"Hmm?"

"With you. You're all... I dunno, sad, all of a sudden. What's happened?"

His eyebrows shot up, eyes drifted to the ceiling, lips pursed in thought. When he looked back at her after a full minute, he gave up his falsely cheerful demeanor in favor of one that seemed to match his mood a little better. He looked strangely sullen.

"You're going home," he responded, as if that was all the explanation she'd ever need.

"Yeah? We said. We said we'd just do one more trip, but..."

"Will you be staying?" His eyes bore into hers. She didn't realize how close they were until that moment; their proximity startled her but she did not flinch away, choosing to bravely meet his gaze and hold her ground.

"Staying... home? D'you want me to?" she asked as she worried her bottom lip. Did he want to send her home? She thought that he... That he was having fun with her too. Liked having her around, even. Why else would he make her sit with him in the library as he tinkered just last night, just for the sake of conversation?

"No!" he cried a bit too quickly. "No. No, of course not, but you- weeeell, your mother, your family. You're human. Humans don't like to stray from their... Natural habitat. And I wondered if you might-"

"Doctor, don't be daft. I told you. There's nothing back there for me, yeah? I mean, I do love my parents. I love them a lot. But this... Everything you've shown me, it's just... It's a better life, isn't it? It's completely mental, but it's _brilliant_. I'm not going anywhere, 's just dinner with my mum and dad, and then we're off."

Relief washed over his face and from the way he looked at her, she wondered for a moment if he wasn't about to pull her into a hug. But no, he didn't, he just brightened considerably and said, "Well then! No time to waste. But I'll have you know that I'm not doing any _dinner_. Family dinner! Eugh! I don't do domestics, Rose. Boring human traditions, I can't stand them! How d'you lot even have time for all that stuff? All the dinners and parties and things. When do you ever have time to, I don't know, read? Study? Impossible creatures," he mumbled as his fingers expertly operated all sorts of different levers and controls.

"How d'you mean, you don't _do domestics_? What'd we do two days ago then? Dinner in the galley, yeah? I cooked? Remember? 'sides, how on earth am I going to explain this to my parents?"

No, really, how would she ever even begin to explain this to her parents? Well, obviously she _wouldn't_. Rose hated lying, but she'd much rather not end up in a loony bin, thank you very much. She'd just have to make something up, say she'd be going traveling and hope that they accept it. Her heart clenched as she imagined the reactions of her parents; she knew them so well, and she knew that they'd undoubtedly be heartbroken. But then again, wasn't it time for her to start her own life? This unexpected, wonderful life?

The Doctor shrugged in response and then moved aside to let her input the time and date of their return to Earth. She struggled to remember it; he helped her with a smug smile and soon, the ship was shaking and tossing and making that strange whirring noise that she was already rather familiar with. And then, just like that, it stopped.

"Are you sure we didn't land in the 14th century?" she asked, the tip of her tongue emerging from the corner of her mouth in a teasing smile.

"You tell me. You're the one who sent us here, Rose," he retorted, a hint of pride in his voice.

"Shocked? That I can drive your little spaceship, I mean."

"Weeeell, maybe a tad. You humans and your funny little brains, can't say I expected you to remember the key sequence," he teased back as she smacked his arm, then put on her red jacket and peered out of the ship, half expecting to find some sort of a foreign planet waiting for her outside.

Her expectations were wrong. They were just around the corner from her home; it was already dark out, but at least it wasn't the 14th century. It was odd, so very _normal_, unlike anything she had seen during the two weeks she spent with the Doctor. A fleeting thought ran through her mind, telling her that it was now _home_ that seemed alien to her, but she dismissed it, took a deep breath, and made her way towards her house. A few steps later, she noticed that the Doctor wasn't following her. She turned around and saw him standing by his TARDIS, hands in his pockets, looking at her with a half-hearted smile.

"You're really not coming with me?" she asked in a tone that was as casual as she could muster.

"No. I'm not."

"Why?"

"I don't do _domestic_, Rose," he repeated, leaning against his ship and shooting her a guarded look.

It was always so up and down with him, with the Doctor. She didn't know how to make any sense of it.

"Yeah? And why's that, then?"

He pondered her question for a moment before responding, "I don't like to stay still. It's..."

"It's what?" she prompted when he didn't continue. He swallowed thickly; she saw his Adam's apple bob in his throat despite the looming darkness around the two of them. His eyes were just as dark as the night sky, barely tinted with a hint of chocolate brown, and held more mysteries than she could possibly imagine.

"Slow. Yup, _slow_. Painfully slow! I don't like _slow,_" he grumbled as he scrunched his nose.

"Slow is not always _bad_, y'know," she said softly, "'sides, we've been running around for two weeks. Two weeks! I'm knackered. Could use a proper dinner too. You're such a tight wad, I'm always payin' for the chips, or talking my way into them if I don't have any local money."

He grinned at her, but she already knew that grin. It was unrelenting. She knew it because whenever she'd ask him about things like his home, his race, his past, all she'd get was that smile which was intended as warm but came out cold as ice.

He never seemed to be more of a distant stranger than when he smiled at her in that particular way.

"Go on then! The sooner you leave, the sooner you'll be back. Your mother did not sound particularly pleased on the telephone. Weeell, that is if she is ever pleased at all. From what I heard, it's a rare occurrence, although _how_ rare depends on a lot of factors. First, what do you consider _rare_? A shooting star? An explosion on the sun? A man winning the lottery even though he never played? A-"

"Right, yeah, I get it. I'm goin', I'm goin'. But... Will you stay? I mean, will you wait for me?"

"Oh, I will. Of course I will. Who would pay for the chips if I didn't?" He smirked and this time, she knew that it was genuine. She smiled back at him, fighting to conceal her disappointment at him not going with her, and marched off towards the house.

* * *

Surreal. Absolutely surreal. Sitting there, eating dinner like nothing's ever happened, her dad was watching the telly, her mum was ranting about it, Rose was trying and failing to enjoy her infamous shepherd's pie. Apparently, their maid had gone on holiday, and her mum was never any great cook.

It was as if all of that completely mad stuff, all the aliens and spaceships and things, it was like all of it never existed back here on Earth. It was as if the Doctor was nothing but a dream.

What if he was?

She still didn't mention her plan to go traveling. She looked at the happy faces of her parents, her dad laughing at some daft comedy show, her mum babbling on about this and that, and her heart broke. They loved her. She couldn't stay, but she had to tell them, couldn't risk coming back late like he once did. If he even existed.

Why didn't he follow her? Really, one dinner, it's not like she was asking for the impossible. It was hardly significant. Would've just been nice if he'd do that for her. Then again, he owed her nothing, did he? No, she owed him for all these amazing things he showed her, and if there was one thing she knew for certain in regards to the Doctor, it was that she didn't want this new life of hers to come to an end.

"Mum? Dad? Listen, I... I've decided to-"

"Blimey! What on earth is _that_!" Pete exclaimed, cutting her off. Both the Tyler women followed his eyes towards the television, and what Rose saw on the screen made her heart skip a beat.

_"A mysterious blue police telephone box appeared above the streets of London, flying through the air at a high speed. Jamie Wilkinson is currently in the area. Jamie, tell us, what is going on out there?"_

_"It's hard to say, Thomas. It appears to be some sort of an aircraft, but Mr. Watson here says that no aircraft comes in such a shape and we are all inclined to agree with him..."_

Rose watched in an awe as the TARDIS flew above the streets of her hometown, her heart now racing. He said that he would wait. He _promised_ he would wait.

He made her a promise. Then what was he doing miles away from her home, currently being broadcasted on live television?

She ignored her parents' protests and ran as if she was in a trance. Out of the dining room, out of the house, out into the chilly evening breeze. The skies were cloudless, clear, and the stars shone brightly in the distance, mapping paths she hoped she would eventually get to walk.

And there was no TARDIS. And no Doctor.

Nothing remained, no sign of him, only an empty space where his ship used to stand and where her new life used to be.

* * *

**A/N: **I apologize for the little cliffhanger. I couldn't resist, and the chapter was already long (I can't seem to write shorter ones...). Thank you so much for all your reviews on the previous chapter, and I'm sorry for not responding to all of them. It's been a busy time for me, but now I feel I can finally be back to my regular writing schedule. :)

Please let me know if you enjoyed this, it's truly motivating. Much love to you all :D

P.S. What do you say, Rose or the Doctor PoV next?


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